


The Elites of Seoul

by baekingyeolk



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mafia AU, Many small character deaths, Many small pairings appear, Mentions of Gun Violence, Nearly the whole SMTown is in this, Smut, mentions of illegal trafficking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-01-06 00:23:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 41,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21217511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baekingyeolk/pseuds/baekingyeolk
Summary: Both being born into rival elite aristocratic families, Baekhyun and Chanyeol have always been at each other’s throats.However, after an underground Syndicate’s targeted attacks on the Byun Industries’ heir, the rest of the upper-class families are ridden by fear and shock. They know that they will have to unite in order to fight the very Syndicate which they once thought they had the power to rule.Would Baekhyun and Chanyeol be able to forget their long-lasting hatred for each other and bring an end to this criminal organization before it kills their loved ones?





	1. Chapter 1

There was a huge party being held at the Park Manor on a warm, midsummer night. 

The Parks were celebrating their 21-year-old son’s return from completing his MBA abroad in America. Being part of one of the Elite families in Seoul, the Parks never missed an opportunity to boast about their success. To them, their biggest achievement was their business empire “The Park’s Enterprises” which handled all the marble exports in Asia. 

Their eldest son, Park Yoochun, was on the executive board and will be given the CEO title once Mr. Park retires. The 29-year-old had been arranged to marry the daughter of the Kwon’s, Kwon Boa, who owned a prestigious company herself, specialising in lavish clothing lines that always take the fashion world by storm whenever they are released. 

It was said that both Park Yoochun and Kwon Boa had been close childhood friends and were happy with this arrangement. It had been the leading gossip of 2015. 

Although, at this time of the year, the return of one of the richest bachelors, Park Yoochun’s younger brother, Park Chanyeol, was the biggest topic. 

Now that he had completed his studies, he was to follow his brother’s footsteps. There was talk everywhere about the youngest Park’s intention of marriage. 

Hence, the majority of the attendees for Park Chanyeol’s graduation party were hoping to catch his eye with their daughters and sons. 

Unfortunately for them, Chanyeol had not been seen since the introductory speech he had done with his father. 

Everybody was now busy with gossip and the usual bland business talk. All the Elite families had gathered tonight and it was a perfect occasion to be talking about future business ventures. 

“This better be worth it, Sehun,” Chanyeol gritted his teeth as he followed his younger brother through the huge, lavish back garden of the Park Manor. 

“It will be, brother. You have come home after 3 years, don’t you miss us messing around?” Sehun replied with a cheeky smile. 

“I am sure Yoochun Hyung humoured you enough, you brat,” Chanyeol said. Their eldest brother was nearing his thirties, yet he was possibly the most immature 29-year-old on this planet. 

It was a miracle that he did so well in business matters, or Chanyeol was sure that their father would have disowned him by now. 

His cheeky, naughty behaviour had naturally been transferred onto Chanyeol and Sehun too. 

It was remarkable how Mrs. Park still looked so beautiful and young despite having three monkeys as sons. Maybe it was Park Sandara, the eldest sibling, who had kept their mother sane throughout the years. 

“Yoochun Hyung was far too busy helping Father with his business to play with me, Chanyeol Hyung~” Sehun complained with a natural pout. “As you would be soon too, now’s the time to have some fun!” Sehun pointed out in his usual bratty tone. 

If Yoochun and Chanyeol had been ‘spoilt’ in the media’s eyes, then Sehun had been completely and utterly spoilt rotten; by his older siblings, as well as his international fan base that he had thanks to his modelling career. His fans completely adored his cold looks as well as the cute maknae image that he showed in the rare interviews he did from time to time. 

Chanyeol had done some modelling too but Sehun being just a high school student had far more time to invest in his modelling career compared to Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol realized that he wasn’t getting the thrills that he usually got whenever he was coming up with something mischievous with his younger brother. 

He sighed internally whilst he wondered if he had somehow managed to mature during his three-year stay in America. 

He had worked hard there; wanting to come back to his home country as soon as possible. 

Yes, of course, he had messed around with his friends on the free nights, but it wasn’t something as serious as the things he did back in his home country. 

His father’s connections, unfortunately, didn’t extend to America. Yet. He couldn’t even count how many times he and his Yoochun Hyung had to be bailed out of jail by their father or his lawyers. 

Yes, he was a rich, spoilt kid. But what could he do, it wasn’t his fault that he had been born with a golden spoon in his mouth, as they say. 

Chanyeol was suddenly brought back from his thoughts when Sehun suddenly stopped walking mid-step, and Chanyeol ended up bumping into him. 

Before Chanyeol could ask, Sehun brought up a finger to his lips and hushed him. 

“Sshh, they are here!” He was pointing another finger at the apple orchard trees that lined the perimeter of the vast garden. 

Chanyeol squinted his eyes, trying to make out what Sehun was pointing at with the little moonlight that was shining. 

The lamps in the garden were too far from the orchard apple trees to illuminate that clearly. 

But it was still clear enough to see what they had to see. He couldn’t help but let a smirk appear on his face. 

“Well, well, well…” Chanyeol drawled loudly, Sehun snickered as he followed his brother to the specific tree they had observed before. 

Against the tree was Byun Baekhyun in a heated lip lock with Kim Jongin. 

“What do we have here?” Chanyeol said in fake awe but soon joined in on Sehun’s laughter. 

Baekhyun pushed Jongin away and glared at Chanyeol. 

“Man, we were looking for you everywhere!” Sehun said, as he walked up to Jongin and gave him the bro hug that was reciprocated enthusiastically. 

This had Baekhyun glaring at the two childish youngsters. 

“What? He’s my bro!” Jongin said in reply to Baekhyun’s glare, smiling cutely as he wrapped his arm around Sehun’s lanky frame. 

Baekhyun crossed his arms, “They were spying on us, Jongin!” 

“Actually, you guys were pretty obvious. I was just here strolling with my dear brother that I have missed so greatly,” Chanyeol said in his fake respectful tone that he always used on Baekhyun. 

“Sadly, we can’t say the same for you,” Baekhyun rebutted not even bothering with the fake respect that Chanyeol seemed to be putting up. 

“Hey! I missed my Hyung!” Sehun pouted as he went to hug Chanyeol. 

“You missed him spoiling you and joining you on your stupid pranks,” Baekhyun replied.“Idiots,” He muttered, shaking his head as he decided to leave them. 

Baekhyun had more than enough for tonight. 

His parents had dragged him to this party, and then when he was finally getting some action, he had to be interrupted by his arch nemesis, Park Chanyeol. 

He really couldn’t care much for Jongin, the boy was cute and had great sex appeal but clearly, he was too immature for him—seeing as how he had completely forgotten Baekhyun’s existence since his ‘oh so lovely’ best friend turned up. 

“What did you say?” Chanyeol growled. 

“Nothing,” Baekhyun said, “You must be hearing things.” 

“Do you really think that I would be letting you get away with what I just saw? It would be the gossip of the year.” 

“Of course, it would be the gossip of the year. You coming back after 3 years is of course nothing next to something related to the Byun Baekhyun,” Baekhyun said smugly. 

“You fuckin-“

“Oh, and I know you won’t say anything. Kim Jongin is a close friend of your lovely Sehun. I don’t think he would like you for doing that. Also, isn’t Mr. Kim doing a business deal with your father soon?” 

“Humph! Every established and successful company in Asia is part of that business deal, except for your father. So sad, right?” Chanyeol taunted. 

“We are not missing out on anything. We have our own individual deals with them, we don’t need to be part of something you guys are involved in, thank you very much!” Baekhyun huffed out arrogantly. 

“Come on~ Admit it, we won the best business award this year, it must have hurt you, no?” 

“Well, did it hurt you when we got that award for the past 10 years?” Baekhyun mocked. 

“Why, you little-“ Chanyeol stepped forward in anger but was quickly blocked by Jongin. 

“Come on guys, we are all here tonight to celebrate, why the sour mood?” Jongin said with his signature smirk. 

Both Baekhyun and the Park brothers rolled their eyes in response. 

“You know very well Jongin, the Byun’s and Park’s haven’t gotten on well for at least 3 decades now!” Sehun explained. 

"I do know that but, guys, don't you think we should let the past be bygones and just have fun?" Jongin said in his usual 'chillax' tone that had both genders swooning. 

Even Baekhyun admitted he had swooned earlier at the start of the party when he had conversed with Kim Jongin. 

But not now. 

Especially not when he was talking about being civil with the Parks. 

"In your fucking dreams, maybe, Jongin." Baekhyun said before Chanyeol could open his mouth and added with a smirk, "By the way, you make out like an over-excited puppy, I think you gave me 90% of your saliva, it’s disgusting," he ended with a frown to show his distaste at the messy exchange they had earlier. 

He had to say, he had kissed far more experienced men, and hence he couldn’t help but compare. 

"Well, you certainly weren't complaining when doing it," Jongin smirked. 

Chanyeol snorted, before saying, "Why would a slut like him complain? He just wants something with his mouth to work on, otherwise bullshit comes out, like now." 

"Fuck you, Park," Baekhyun hissed between his gritted teeth. Looking just like an angry puppy, Jongin thought. 

"Likewise, Baek," Chanyeol drawled. 

"You guys do know that you both just said you want to fuck each other, right?" Jongin innocently stepped into the conversation yet again and suddenly got two heated glares directed at him. "Sorry, I was just saying..." 

Sehun rolled his eyes at the current situation, whatever plans of mischief he had were ruined, for now. He was now actually feeling a bit peckish and so he suggested, "We should head back inside, I am sure our parents have gone mad trying to look for us." 

Chanyeol nodded and took the lead in walking back to their huge mansion. Sehun and Jongin followed him but Baekhyun stayed back. 

Jongin turned around to ask if Baekhyun would be coming along and Baekhyun answered, "You go ahead, I will be inside in a few minutes." 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and walked away, intent on finding his way to the balcony. Although he’d grown out of the phase of staying in the balcony for the majority of formal events, that didn’t mean he didn’t like staying there. No matter what, it was still his refuge for when he felt like escaping the social pressure that was mounted heavily upon his shoulders. 

The cool breeze greeted him yet again and Baekhyun’s eyes fluttered shut comfortably. The balcony was a little secret known only by him – a place where probably even the Park family themselves didn’t visit a lot but he had seen many times the Park siblings hiding here as kids during the parties held in the past. 

As the heir to his father’s company, Baekhyun knew that it would only be enough time before his father formally handed the reins over to him. While his cousins would also get their own responsibilities to manage in the company, his actions would have a much bigger influence. 

At first, he’d thought that Taehyung (his first cousin, who was more like his younger brother) was more deserving than he was for the CEO position. Taehyung was just as quick a thinker as he was and he was more sociable, too. But Baekhyun knew that his cousins all agreed with their father’s decision to pass on the majority of responsibility to Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun leaned against the railing of the balcony; he had a good view of the entire property from here. Besides, at the end of the day, it was mostly just paperwork – the Byun family would still run the company together. 

“I’m glad to see you alone, Mr. Byun.” 

"What...what's happening?" Baekhyun managed to let out as he turned around and felt his blood run cold. There was a gun being pointed at him and it seemed like tonight was going to be the last night of his life. 

***

In the Park manor’s main hall, the party was still at full swing. The eldest of the younger generation were busy catching up on all the updates. Jung Yunho along with his recent husband Kim Jaejoong always stood out due to his intimidating aura, but when he was with his friends, he was like any normal thirty year old. 

Jaejoong’s cousin Heechul had recently entered his second trimester and had been testing his husband, Siwon’s, patience greatly. 

Chanyeol’s older brother, Yoochun and his fiance, Boa, couldn’t contain their giggles as they observed their pregnant friend’s antics. But their attention was soon grabbed by the newlyweds, who despite the hustle and bustle around them, were too wrapped around each other. 

“I have to say, you two are glowing ridiculously since you have tied the knot,” Yoochun drawled with a greasy smirk on his face. Kwon Boa, who was hanging off his left arm, gave him a light shove for his greasy antics. 

Yunho just laughed as he tightened his hold on Jaejoong’s waist. “I have never been happier, Yoochun-ah.” 

Jaejoong, too busy nursing himself to a fifth glass of wine, hummed in agreement and proceeded to land a not-so-chaste kiss onto his husband’s lips. Yunho let the kiss progress and chuckled in amusement. 

Siwon cleared his throat, breaking up the blushing couple and said, “Funny to think that you guys are so much in love now, when you and your families have been at each other’s throats since the Joseon period,” he joked. 

“Exactly. Your marriage has united your families together, and now you have become such a huge monopoly in the business world,” Yoochun agreed. 

“It was something that had to be done. We couldn’t let them control us, we won’t be defeated so easily.” Yunho said, his eyes showing a fiery passion that usually had businessmen cowering. But these were his friends; they were used to their strong-headed friend and couldn’t help but admit that their friend was a born leader. “We just got lucky with the fact that we turned out to be soulmates,” Yunho said in a lighter tone, his expression changing to one of a lovesick fool with blushing cheeks. 

“Ew Yunho, Yoochun is clearly starting to rub off on you. Who could believe the cold intimidating Jung Yunho actually believes in something silly as soulmates?” Boa teased. 

“That’s all I can think about when I see how the universe conspired to get us together. No matter how much we fought against it, we were always running into each other.” Yunho clearly had enough to drink; no one had ever heard Jung Yunho speak like this. 

“Aww Yunho, wae shoo cutee~” Jaejoong purred cutely as he made kissy faces. 

“Ok, that’s clearly enough alcohol for you Jae,” Heechul said as he held a glass of orange juice. Siwon and Heechul had announced their pregnancy two weeks ago; they were one of the first ones from their generation of Elites to be having a child. 

Jaejoong pouted and got a kiss from Yunho in response. 

“Ok, as much as I love watching my childhood friends get lovey-dovey, there is only so much that I can take,” Yoochun complained. 

Yunho and Jaejoong laughed, when suddenly they heard a shriek resembling a dolphin. The three pairs of couples turned around to see Junsu and Eunhyuk having a dance battle on the dance floor. Junsu was complaining about how Eunhyuk had copied some of his moves and made them seem better. 

“When will they grow up?” Jaejoong sighed. 

“I am sure when we will have our kids going to school and they will still be fighting over who is the best dancer,” Yoochun laughed. 

“Where is Donghae? He is always attached to those idiots,” Heechul noted. 

Yunho shrugged, despite Donghae being one of his closest childhood best friends, he hadn’t seen much of him since he got married. Even at this party, he had only managed to greet him before being bombarded by businessmen. 

***

Chanyeol was talking to the troublemaker duo—Sehun and Jongin—as he sipped on his champagne. All three of them were observing the eldest Park sibling, Park Yoochun, conversing with the new power couple, as named by the media, Yunjae. 

"It's totally crazy to think the Kims and the Jungs have tied the knot. They used to be at each other’s throats," Jongin muttered as he sucked on a strawberry. 

"The things you do for business, I suppose," Chanyeol replied. 

"Imagine if you and Byun had to get married for business," Jongin joked, but groaned mid-laugh as he got elbowed in the stomach by Sehun. 

"That's not funny bro," Sehun shuddered. "I would never wish such bad luck onto my brother. I would rather he marry a dumb plastic Barbie than that shorty." 

Chanyeol just shook his head as he frowned, not bothering to say anything in reply to the bad joke. The thought of the Byun heir always had him feeling sick. 

"Jeez, you guys clearly can't take a joke," Jongin groaned, as he rubbed his stomach. It was definitely going to bruise, Sehun's elbows were like daggers in disguise. "But anyways, thanks to Yunho Hyung, I can finally bang that fine ass." 

"Oh, you mean one of the Jung sisters? Which one?" Sehun asked, his eyes twinkling. 

"Jessica noona isn't up for grabs just so you know," Chanyeol reminded. He had heard rumours of her and Shim Changmin having something. The last thing he wanted was these boys to be ruining another relationship with their sexual escapades. 

"Oh, Sica noona, is totally fine," Jongin smirked, Sehun mockingly gagged and imitated Jongin's greasy 'Sica noona', making Chanyeol chuckle. "But I just can't wait to get a taste of that Krystal chick." 

Just as he completed that sentence, Jung Krystal happened to walk past them. Hearing the crude remark, she whipped around to send Jongin a glare. 

“Good luck with that,” Sehun snickers as Jongin gulped at the ferocious attitude. 

"Damn she is too hot man~" He whined under his breath. "If only I could just spend one night with her." 

"Been there done that," Lee Taemin drawled, entering the conversation with a glass of champagne. Park Sehun, Kim Jongin and Lee Taemin have been the closest of friends since they were in diapers, everyone called them the 3 Musketeers. 

Shaking his head at the youngsters' antics, Chanyeol asked Taemin, "Where is Donghae hyung? I haven't met him tonight"

Lee Donghae was Taemin's older brother, part of the '86 club like Park Yoochun, Jung Yunho and the rest. 

"He should be around somewhere, maybe with Eunhyuk Hyung," Taemin answered absentmindedly. 

As both Jongin and Sehun started pestering Taemin to explain how he managed to score Jung Krystal, Chanyeol decided to leave. He still considers Sehun a baby, despite him being 16 years old now. Chanyeol always forgets how promiscuous he had been at that age not that he is any less now. 

He decided to make his way towards his older sister Park Sandara, who was too busy giggling at whatever her spouse was whispering in her ear. She had married her long-time boyfriend Kwon Jiyong a few years back. 

Before Chanyeol could reach them, out of nowhere, a loud gunshot was heard. 

Suddenly, screams filled the air, panic and havoc everywhere. Everyone crouched down, some on their knees as they shouted for their loved ones. Chanyeol noticed his parents were far closer than he had thought and quickly headed towards them. 

“We are alright,” Mrs. Park said yet seemed to be visibly shaken. “Darling, do you think they are behind it?” She asked her husband, as her worry lines appeared and her face went pale. 

“Son, I will call the police. Check if Sehun is alright, I haven’t seen him in a while,” Mr. Park said as he rubbed his wife’s arm in support then soothed her panic. He then whispered below his breath, “I hope nothing happened to Yoora.” 

“Ok Father, take care. I will find out who is behind this,” Chanyeol said. He heard his mother’s soft “stay safe” and his father’s “be careful” before he ran to find the youngest Park. 

He tried not to push past people, but for every minute that passed and no sight of Sehun, Chanyeol started to feel uneasy. 

What if the gunshot had been aimed at him? 

It was obvious that it had to be one of the Parks, he thought as he looked around frantically. Why else would there be an attempted (he hoped) assassination at the Park Manor? 

Chanyeol had been close to the gunshot, considering how he had heard it so loudly and clearly but he surely wasn’t the envisioned target. 

Nor was Yoochun as he had just seen him in deep discussion with the Kwons about the matter at hand. 

It would certainly make Park Sehun the prime target for tonight’s attack. 

"SEHUN!" Chanyeol ended up shouting for his younger brother as he ran around the hall desperately in search for the younger male. "SEHUN!" 

The 3 Musketeers were nowhere in sight. 

He ran down a vast long corridors, that Jongdae (first cousin of Kim Jongin) had shakily pointed to when asked about Sehun's whereabouts. 

He hadn’t forgotten to go to his father’s secret stash of guns first so that he could have a weapon to defend himself with. 

As soon as Chanyeol turned right at one of the balcony doors, he saw a dark figure closing the doors softly and walk slowly towards what seemed like the back of the soon-to-be the heir of the Byun Empire, Baekhyun. 

He saw the black-dressed figure withdraw a gun from his back pocket. 

Tingles rushed down Chanyeol's spine. He ran to the doors and opened them with a bang. 

This caused the assassin to turn around and Baekhyun to scream in surprise. 

"What...what's happening?" He asked, his voice high-pitched. 

His droopy eyes were wide-open in fear as he saw Chanyeol just a few meters away, taking hesitant steps towards him. 

“I’m here to send a message.” The assailant said slowly, his words dripping with dark amusement. 

The assassin slowly began to make his approach, oblivious to Chanyeol’s presence behind him and although Baekhyun’s instincts were screaming for him to run, his body refused to comply. 

Baekhyun couldn’t think and as soon as the sound of a gun firing echoed in the dark of the night, he anticipated the pain, the feeling of blood flowing down from wherever he was shot. Instead of pain, however, he felt a pull. 

“Quick, get out of here.” 

His eyes fluttered open instantly, and Baekhyun stared into familiar hazel eyes. 

“Chanyeol,” He breathed out, his voice barely above a whisper. He glanced past Chanyeol’s shoulder and saw the intruder, bleeding helplessly on the balcony floor. 

“Baekhyun, come on, there are more. We heard a gunshot earlier, so there has to be more than one person,” Chanyeol explained hurriedly, and Baekhyun was not distracted enough to not notice the gun Chanyeol was holding in his hand. 

He took a step back away from Chanyeol, but Chanyeol refused and gripped his wrist tightly. “If we don’t leave now, you’re going to die tonight Baekhyun. They are after you.” 

Baekhyun was too scared to ask who were they and instead managed to question, “How can I trust you?” 

“Please, just do,” Chanyeol pleaded before he glanced back at the balcony’s doors. He turned back to face Baekhyun, “Come on, we have to leave.” 

Baekhyun nodded and Chanyeol quickly pulled Baekhyun back indoors. Footsteps were heard in the darkness and Baekhyun could only feel his increased heart rate with every step. He could only grip Chanyeol’s hand tighter as he followed him blindly into the darkness. 

“How did you know where I was?” Baekhyun asked. 

He pulled Chanyeol back, and the other man’s body nearly collided against his. He stared at Chanyeol in the darkness, “How did you know –“

“I was just looking for Sehun. Someone else got shot tonight, and I am praying to God it isn’t Sehun,” Chanyeol replied as he turned away from Baekhyun and made his way across the corridor to open a door. 

He faced Baekhyun once more, “You have to go inside here.” 

“That’s a dead end, there’s nothing there.” He knew as he had gone down this corridor when he was young, to escape from Chanyeol’s bullying during Chanyeol’s 6th birthday party. 

Chanyeol didn’t bother asking Baekhyun how he knows all these secret places in the Park Mansion. He had figured that this is where Baekhyun used to frequently disappear to whenever he had to come to the Park’s household unwillingly. 

Baekhyun turned his head - the sound of footsteps were getting louder. “Hurry Chanyeol, there’s another path we can take that’ll lead us to one of the –“

“There’s no time,” Chanyeol replied before he pulled Baekhyun into the room once more. He pulled a painting off the wall, and Baekhyun let out a small noise of surprise the moment he saw the hidden doorway. Now this was something that he had not known about. 

Chanyeol opened the door with ease, “Come on. We have to go here.” He let Baekhyun go inside, and Baekhyun could only stumble in the darkness as he tried to find the right place to go. 

“Chanyeol?” he asked, afraid and entirely lost. 

“I’m here,” Chanyeol replied, his voice a comfort in the darkness. 

Baekhyun turned around and watched as Chanyeol locked the door behind them, completely blocking out any light from entering. 

It wasn’t long before Chanyeol’s hand took hold of his, and Baekhyun held on firmly as he followed Chanyeol’s lead. 

“Wait,” Chanyeol whispered, and Baekhyun stopped immediately. 

He listened as Chanyeol dialled a number, and although all of his instincts were raging for him to run away, to find someone else, he couldn’t help but comply with all of Chanyeol’s instructions. For the first time, they were on the same side, and someone was out there to get them. 

“Changmin? Sound the alarms. There is more than one of them, we need to find out who the first gunshot was aimed at,” Chanyeol ordered. 

Changmin? Wasn’t he the adopted son of Jung Moonbin, Yunho’s Father. Were the Jung’s involved in this too? Goosebumps travelled down Baekhyun’s spine. If the Jungs were involved, then in association so were the Kims, and with the way Park Chanyeol was acting it seems like the Parks and Kwons were aware of what was going on. That only leaves the question of whether Lees, Chois and the Byuns were aware. It seemed like he could be the only one who had been uninformed about this, whatever this was. 

“The first gunshot? Meaning that you heard the second one?” Changmin couldn’t help but ask. 

“The second one was when Baekhyun was struggling to disarm the attacker and he ended up shooting the attacker,” Chanyeol explained briefly before he hung up, and Baekhyun waited for him to take hold of his hand once more. 

Baekhyun could feel goosebumps all over his skin from fear. He had been so close to death. And it was Park Chanyeol his main rival that had come to save him. And it was that very Park Chanyeol that Baekhyun was seeking safety in now. He felt like he was being left in the dark (literally) and the only light of guidance was Chanyeol. He couldn’t believe that only an hour ago they had been at each other’s throats arguing about silly things. 

“I can’t go outside with you,” Chanyeol murmured softly as he pushed open the exit, revealing that the path they’d taken had let out to the gardens. 

Moonlight trickled into the hidden passageway, and Baekhyun watched Chanyeol carefully. 

“Why did you do this?” he asked, “Why did you –“

“Baekhyun, keep yourself safe. These are dangerous times. Don’t be on your own ever again. Tell your father to appoint some bodyguards for you,” Chanyeol quickly said as he gently pushed Baekhyun to the exit, “Now go. Tell your family that you were attacked–“

Baekhyun had no idea why Chanyeol was trying to cover up his rescue mission. What was he trying to hide? Baekhyun thought. He seemed to be trained with the gun with the way he skilfully dealt with that assassin. 

“How do I explain the bullet then?” Baekhyun asked exasperatedly, trying to suppress himself from asking other questions that he had for Chanyeol, “How do I explain the fact that he’s the one dead, and I’m still alive and sound?” 

“Tell them that there was a struggle,” Chanyeol replied, telling him the same story he had told Changmin “No one will question you, I’m sure.” 

“But what about –“

“Don’t worry about me, now go.” 

Sirens blared in the distance, and Chanyeol pushed Baekhyun out of the passageway. Baekhyun turned his head and caught Chanyeol’s eyes just before the doorway was sealed, and his heart caught in his throat. 

“Don’t tell anyone I saved you. Stay low and take your family to one of our living rooms,” Chanyeol whispered before he shut the door completely. 

Baekhyun stared at the sealed passageway for a few seconds before he quickly stood up and tried to forget the indecipherable look in Chanyeol’s eyes, and quickly began to run to where the party was being held. He could hear the loud screeching of the sirens, and he could only push himself to run faster, desperate to see any of his family members. 

Almost everything was a blur, and the only thing that dragged Baekhyun out of his frenzied state of mind was that he heard someone shouting his name loudly. He turned around, and saw Taehyung screaming "Hyung are you alright? Somebody call an ambulance!" 

Baekhyun looked down at his shirt. 

The white material of his dress shirt was completely splattered with blood.


	2. Chapter 2

Everything was in complete shambles. People were running around shouting out the names of their loved ones as the police proceeded to interrogate the security in charge of the night’s event. ‘_How could there have been intruders in such a high-level event?’_ was the question that was on everyone's minds tonight.

Baekhyun was still pretty shaken up by the events that had just transpired only a few minutes ago. He had changed his bloodied white dress shirt to avoid any more attention. His parents, as well as his cousin Taehyung, were sitting down with him in one of the many living rooms that the Parks had. Mr. Park had told them to stay in that room but he hadn’t replied to any of Mr. Byun’s questions. Mr. Byun never had good control over his anger and was therefore not resting quietly like the rest of the Byun family.

“Did that son of a bitch try to kill my one and only son?” He spat out angrily, “and now he is telling us to sit here like ducks?! Wait for his majesty to come? Bullshit!”

“Honey, I am sure there is a misunderstanding,” Mrs. Byun said with a calm, soothing voice.

Mr. Byun huffed and turned to glare at Baekhyun, “Are you sure you didn’t see the face of the attacker?”

“No, father, I told-” Baekhyun started to say, his voice still shaky from the shock of the earlier incident.

“You are a useless piece of shit, maybe it would have been better for the assassin to have just shot you,” Mr. Byun seethed out. Baekhyun’s mother gave a sorrowful glance to Baekhyun, but Baekhyun didn’t care anymore. He was now used to such awful jabs from his father.

Taehyung however, couldn’t bear to hear his Hyung being spoken to like that. “Uncle, the attacker was probably masked. And even if he wasn’t, it's not like the person behind the attack would hire a person that we would know,” he explained.

“Oh, you be quiet,” Mr. Byun said with a stern voice, “no need to speak for him.”

Taehyung, who resembled a kicked puppy now, just decided to drop his head down in rejection. Baekhyun couldn’t help but ruffle his light brown hair in adoration. If it had not been for Taehyung, he sure as hell wouldn’t have been the way he is now. He is grateful for having his cousin in his life.

It seemed that Mr. Byun always had a weird way of showing affection to his one and only son. Baekhyun wouldn’t even call it a form of affection but it is something that his mother has always said, so he hopes that his father does indeed love him deep inside. Recently, however, it had been hard to deal with his father’s harsh words, especially after completing his MBA degree. Having to go to work with his father every single day and dealing with such a pessimistic judging attitude has started to take a huge toll on him mentally and physically.

Baekhyun is forever thankful for his cousin Taehyung, as his own mother never took a stand for him in front of his father.

Before Mr. Byun could spout out any more hateful words, the door suddenly swung open to reveal the Park family entering the grand living room. They towered over everyone, being at least a head taller than most of the people in the room, aside from Mrs. Park and her daughter Sandara. It was always dotingly talked about in the media, about the stark height differences between the male and female members of the Park family.

Chanyeol’s dark gaze met Baekhyun’s brown orbs for a brief moment before he settled himself on an armchair opposite him, crossing his knees and sitting comfortably. One could never guess that the man before him had yielded a gun minutes ago, saving Baekhyun’s life by shooting the attacker as if it were an everyday mundane activity.

Behind the Parks came the Jung and Kim families. It was then that Baekhyun noticed the sullen and depressed atmosphere in the room. Finally, the Lee family entered allowing Baekhyun to finally understand the situation at hand. Seeing Mrs. Lee sobbing her eyes out, with a mind stricken Taemin in tow had Baekhyun holding back his own tears. He knew that there had been another attack tonight; he had only hoped that it had been unsuccessful. But seeing the grief-stricken family, he wasn’t so sure that there would be any good news.

***

Chanyeol was the first to enter the living room in which the Byun family were waiting. He met Baekhyun’s swollen eyes and tried to act as indifferent as possible.

Tonight was a very sad night for the Elites, as something had come up which they had never thought would come to light.

His father slowly began to explain the situation to the Byuns. He had given the same explanation to the Lee family beforehand, as they had deserved to know first, and needed more time to embrace the truth.

Because, even though the Byuns had also been targeted tonight, they still hadn’t suffered a huge loss as the Lees had.

It had all started with something very simple. Majority of the marriages in Elite families are arranged, so it was a shock to everyone when Chanyeol’s older sister, Sandara had married out of pure love. Her lover, Jiyong happened to be a rich guy with a flourishing business but the Park’s had agreed just because of their daughter’s wish and didn’t really expect much from Jiyong in terms of a business partnership.

It was, however, after the marriage that they had realised what a grave mistake they had made. Jiyong was, in fact, a member of an underground Syndicate run by gangsters that included the corrupt higher classes in Asia. By marrying the daughter of the Parks, they had to be dragged into it too.

This led to blackmailing and death threats being thrown between the existing mafia gangs under the Syndicate and the new Elites that had just entered. In order to keep peace within the Syndicate and the Elites of Seoul, it was decided to only allow the eldest son from each of the biggest Elite families join. So, 2011’s additions were Park Yoochun and Jung Yunho. They had been primarily forced by their family heads but thought that it was better to join than to be left out and be attacked in the future.

The Syndicate had a lot of power and it had been increasing rapidly each year; it could destroy their business empires if it wanted to. It was after this that Mr. Park had arranged for Park Chanyeol to train in combat, to learn how to use a gun and many other skills that could be useful in the future.

After all, their family had ties to the mafia anyway. They had found out that their uncles had also joined many years ago. In fact, many Elites had signed up secretly in the past and everything had been revealed in the past four years.

So Chanyeol couldn’t blame his sister, it was something he was sure that they would have come across in the future. It's just that it had to be a lot sooner and sudden.

Even Kwon Boa, a cousin of Jiyoung, was part of the Syndicate and it didn’t stop Park Yoochun from arranging to marry her. The Kwon family had the largest share of the Syndicate and after the second marriage between these two big families, it is possible to say that they will own the majority of the Syndicate in the near future.

That’s why the Jungs and Kims had formed an alliance too despite many years of dispute between them. The marriage of Yunho and Jaejoong has made them the biggest and oldest business empire in Asia. Everyone thought of them as a threat except for the Parks, who were extremely close to both the families from the very beginning.

"So, you are saying that all of you are part of the mafia? I am going to the police!" Mr. Byun shouted after Mr. Park had explained everything. Mrs. Byun tried to calm him down, but Mr. Byun carried on shouting, "I can't believe this has been going for so many years! I will take you all to court!"

"Please calm down, Mr. Byun. Going to the Police will only make the situation worse. If you hadn't realised, aside from Lee Donghae, your son was also the main target tonight. You are involved in this just as much as us," Chanyeol stated in his deep, monotone voice.

He could feel Baekhyun's strong gaze on him but decided to ignore him. Chanyeol understood that Baekhyun was still recovering from the shock, but he didn’t want to highlight his heroic act in front of everybody by meeting the Byun Heir’s gaze.

"How can we be involved when we didn't even know about the Syndicate existing until tonight?" Mr. Byun asked.

"Neither were the Lee family, Mr. Byun. But they have lost their son tonight," Yoochun replied grimly, his voice breaking near the end.

"Oh god, no..." Mrs. Byun gasped out, her hands covering her mouth.

Baekhyun tried to suppress the urge to cry, as he felt Taehyung's comforting grip on his arm.

Lee Donghae had been assassinated.

He was just like all of them, a young rich heir to a multimedia empire. His life had been snatched away, without his family being involved in any of this.

Chanyeol couldn’t help but observe Baekhyun's expressionless face, knowing how the young man must be feeling right now. He owed his life to Chanyeol, or he would have shared the same fate as Lee Donghae.

"And as for the reason why Lee Donghae and Byun Baekhyun were targeted tonight, I can take a guess," Jung Yunho stated in his authoritative tone. Mr. Byun looked to him with great respect despite the young Jung being much younger. They have many business partnerships together, and Mr. Byun knew that Jung Yunho could easily make the same deals with other companies if he wants to. So, he tried his best to keep in mind of his behaviour as the Jung family wasn't like the Parks.

"Both the Lee and Byun family weren't involved in the Syndicate, however, are considered amongst the Elites. So, I believe that tonight's assassination was done to scare us, to tell us that we do not hold power over the Syndicate, despite us ruling Asia," Yunho hypothesized as he walked slowly and seated himself into the armchair next to Chanyeol.

"So instead of harming us, they are harming the people around us. We are being affected but not enough to break the terms and conditions that we had agreed to when we became members of the Syndicate. They have promised us that they won't harm our families, but nothing was said about our family friends or business partners that weren't involved, unfortunately," Yunho went on to explain.

Mr. Byun was speechless, he was furious but couldn't show his anger towards the leader of Jung Empire, "I... I don't know what to say, Mr. Jung."

"I can understand it must be hard to comprehend, Mr. Byun, but do try to realise that the only way we can beat the Syndicate is by being united. We are all in this together, even if it is involuntary," Jung Yunho affirmed. "So, it's best to leave the family feuds behind us, in the future, we have to be one."

Baekhyun met Chanyeol's eyes as Yunho said the last sentence, the young Park's gaze showing something that Baekhyun was unable to decipher.

***

The funeral for Lee Donghae was held the next day. Everybody had made an appearance; it was the saddest day of the year for the Elites of Seoul. Baekhyun had also turned up, despite still being shaken from last night’s events. He wasn’t able to sleep properly at all. His father was still mad at being kept in the dark for all this time.

And honestly, Baekhyun was scared. He had been targeted specifically when his family had no connections to this ‘Syndicate’ that everyone in this city had known about for years.

He saw Park Chanyeol in the front row, soothing his older brother Park Yoochun who was sobbing so hard that his entire frame was shaking and heaving with each sob. Lee Donghae had been close with Yoochun, Yunho, Jaejoong, Siwon, Heechul, Junsu, Eunhyuk and Boa: the ’86 line. They were all born in the same year, so naturally, they were the closest of friends as they had attended the same schools.

Unfortunately for Baekhyun, he hadn’t had many friends among the Elites in Seoul. Anyone that had been born in the same year as him was either too annoying or not good enough to even associate with in Baekhyun’s eyes. Park Chanyeol was somebody that had both of these statements applying to him.

But he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he had felt the night before for that tall elf-like idiot. He had been so sure he was going to die when he saw that gun being pointed at him. And then out of nowhere Chanyeol had appeared and saved him like a knight in shining armour. He had never seen Chanyeol in such a way before. He felt like he owed his life to that annoying Park now. Baekhyun also knows that he should thank him. He hadn’t had the chance to do so last night.

Once the funeral had ended, he finally gathered up the courage to walk towards Chanyeol who seemed to be in a deep discussion with Kim Jongdae. Jongdae was also one of the people that Baekhyun hated with a passion, the constant cat-like smirk on that boy’s face had Baekhyun wanting to throw a punch. Having to go to school with these two annoying brats had been the hardest moments of Baekhyun’s life. Not like his life was any better now.

He cleared his throat as he checked around to make sure his parents wouldn’t see him interacting with the Park heir. His father had been furious last night; he was cursing the Parks even this morning at breakfast. The last thing he wanted was to anger his father more. But he needed closure.

Chanyeol turned around in surprise, his eyes widening and then after recognising Baekhyun, he smirked.

“Is it really _the_ Byun Baekhyun coming all the way here to talk to me?” He asked teasingly, his question being aimed at Jongdae, who laughed his infamous dinosaur-like laugh.

“I didn’t think I would see this day Park, but it seems like not even Baekhyun can resist your charms.”

Baekhyun tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes but ended up doing it anyway. "Park, I want to talk to you,” he asked with his usual poker face set in place.

"Go ahead," Chanyeol said, as he put his hands in the front pockets of his pants, making the blazer ride up a bit from the bottom. Jongdae stepped closer to Baekhyun, wanting to hear what Baekhyun had to say.

"Alone," Baekhyun insisted, as he glared at Jongdae, who sent him a smirk and then whined. "Why? I seem to have a feeling that you guys won't just be 'talking'?"

"Chen, stay here, I will be with you in a few minutes," Chanyeol commanded in a serious tone, leaving no room for Jongdae's jokes. Chanyeol had noticed that Baekhyun was starting to sport the same expression he had last night. Completely and utterly lost. There was more to what his eyes were conveying, but Chanyeol didn't want to stare at him for too long and didn't know him well enough to guess.

After he had guided Baekhyun to a secluded area, out of sight from everyone, Baekhyun sighed, his tense body finally relaxing.

"Talk," Chanyeol said indifferently, wanting to this to be over and done with.

"It's about last night..." Baekhyun started to say, he tried to keep his voice steady but he was still feeling very emotional from last night's events.

"We talked enough last night, Byun," Chanyeol quickly cut him off, his sharp voice nearly causing Baekhyun to take a small step back.

"I get that...it's just that I wanted to know why you saved me. You have spent years expressing your hatred towards me, and then when you had the chance of having me finally out of the way, you saved me," Baekhyun explained. "I owe my life to you now, Park Chanyeol. And... I… I don't know how to feel about that."

Chanyeol sighed as he rubbed his forehead, showing his annoyance clearly to Baekhyun. "Look, Baekhyun, I can see that you are taking this all very emotionally. Me saving you that night was purely due to my own reasons, for my family's well-being as well as the rest of the families involved. I personally don't give a shit if you had died that night or not. I just wanted _them_ to fail; they can't enter our own house and be assassinating anyone they like. Even if somebody I hate with every fibre of my being is the one being targeted," he said in an exasperated voice.

He made his way to leave, before he turned around to look at Baekhyun again, "And about you owing me your life. I told you to forget I had saved you, so it would be best to get these emotional thoughts out of your head now."

Baekhyun was too stunned at Chanyeol's response to be able to say anything in reply. He heard for the second time that his death would have been appreciated. Feeling humiliated and useless, he made his way towards the car park.

Before he sat in the car, he happened to hear Jongdae and Chanyeol's rather loud conversation echoing in the car park.

"Come on Park, just tell me what the Byun wanted from you!" Jongdae questioned.

"The Byun is just a softy, he is getting a bit too emotionally attached. I hate clingy bitches," Baekhyun heard Chanyeol reply.

Trying to hold back his tears, he managed to settle in the car and ordered the driver to take him to his father's company.

It was the second time in twenty-four hours that somebody had stated that they wouldn't have cared if he had passed away. Even if his long-lasting enemy had said it, it still made Baekhyun distressed and devastated.

***

"Are you fucking stupid?!" Baekhyun's father shouted as he slammed a file on his desk, the loud bang causing Baekhyun to jump as he refused to meet his father's hate-filled gaze. "What part of ‘securing that business deal’ did you not get?"

"Father, they were asking for terms that we hadn't agreed on. We would have suffered a loss-" Baekhyun managed to stammer out his explanation, before being interrupted halfway by his furious father.

"Who are you to decide whether we deserve a loss or not! Listen to me, young boy, you just caused a huge loss to our company because of your stupid, careless act, be expected to not get any pay for this month. It’s the only way you will learn," Mr. Byun declared.

"I understand, Father," Baekhyun said in a small voice, still refusing to look up.

"And also, this," a harsh slap sent Baekhyun's face to the left, his neck hurting from the sudden forceful movement and his right cheek stung. "Get out," Mr. Byun ordered as he turned his back to Baekhyun whose eyes had started to water. Baekhyun held a hand up to his right cheek and quickly exited his father's office to rush to his own.

As soon as he left, he fell onto the sofa and sobbed. Footsteps weren't heard over Baekhyun’s sobs and gasps, it was only when Baekhyun heard a soft "Hyung?” that Baekhyun turned around to face Taehyung.

"Hyung, are you alright? Did Uncle hit you again?" Taehyung managed to ask, as he looked at his hyung with pity. He had a pot of cream in his hand that he knew worked well on Baekhyun's injuries.

Baekhyun just nodded in reply, refusing to open his mouth, as he knew his voice would crack. He didn't want to be even more humiliated in front of his younger cousin.

Taehyung placed himself next to Baekhyun and softly applied the cream to soothe the stinging. Baekhyun winced once in a while but didn't tell Taehyung to stop. He was used to the pain now, he only used these creams to keep Taehyung's sanity and for the injuries to heal better so it would not gain any attention.

"What would I do without you, huh?" Baekhyun managed to utter, as he ruffled Taehyung's soft locks once had finished applying the cream.

"I don't want to think about it, Hyung" Taehyung replied softly, as he leant towards Baekhyun to engulf him into a tight embrace. "My Hyung will be alone without his lovely dongsaeng by his side," he said in his 'aegyo' voice that he used to annoy Baekhyun usually.

Baekhyun laughed, and said with a sarcastic tone "Yeah, sure."

Taehyung noticed that the laughter had not reached Baekhyun's eyes.

He knew his older cousin inside and out. When he had been younger, he always saw Baekhyun as a cool mentor, imitating his hobbies and styles, doing anything to resemble the cool Byun Heir. But as Taehyung grew up, he noticed how Baekhyun wasn’t as strong as he acted;he was still a broken child despite having grown up into a fine young man.

Nevertheless, Baekhyun hated mentioning dark topics in front of him. Always seeming to internally scold himself if he accidentally let something slip in front of his younger cousin.

Taehyung hated that. He had learnt so much from Baekhyun but he wishes that his Hyung learnt to stand up against the abuse and to not settle for less. Even if it meant going against his tyrant of a father.

The young teenager hopes that there will be someone in Baekhyun's life in the future, who the beautiful brunette could depend on, who could make sure that his cousin was always smiling and keep him away from hurt and harm.

***

Months had passed since the assassination of Lee Donghae at the Park Mansion. All the Elites had somehow managed to get over the horrid events of that night.

The anonymous Syndicate Leader hadn’t yet admitted to being responsible for the assassination of Lee Donghae, nor the attempted murder of Byun Baekhyun. Jung Yunho, however, was adamant that it was the Syndicate’s work and that they should all be careful in the days ahead.

It was now the holiday season, with grand Christmas trees being decorated extravagantly and Christmas carols being played everywhere. With Christmas being only a month away, people were busy shopping for presents and preparing for parties and gatherings.

The biggest event of 2015 had yet to happen—Park Yoochun and Kwon Boa’s wedding. They had been engaged last year and were officially tying the knot at the end of November, right after Chanyeol’s birthday.

Before the wedding, Kwon Boa had invited all her family and friends from around the world to stay at the Kwon’s estate until the wedding took place. Park Yoochun had done the same but had his guests placed in one of their many eight-star hotel chains. Nobody had wanted to stay at the Park Mansion after the mishap of the last event.

Tonight, a Charity gala was being held at the Kwon Boa’s family estate. All the Elite families and wedding guests were attending. The gala had the theme of a masquerade ball, and everyone was dressed formally and had unique masks placed on their faces.

Baekhyun hid in a corner next to a huge vase of beautiful exotic flowers as he sipped on the exquisite wine.

The past few months had been tough on him, his father had a constant sour mood and Baekhyun would always be at the receiving end of Mr. Byun’s anger and frustration.

Baekhyun was getting sick and tired of it all. He had even thought of running away, just going away to some isolated Greek Island, away from his father and the prying media, away from all the heavy responsibilities that his family and society had placed on his exhausted shoulders.

But only one thing stopped him.

He had made a promise to his cousin that he wouldn’t ever leave him out of his life. Baekhyun running away and leaving everything behind would contradict that very promise. He is also scared to think what his cousin would have to go through once he is gone. Would his father start treating Taehyung the same way?

Taehyung had been living with Baekhyun’s family since he was a toddler. The young boy’s father, Baekhyun’s uncle, had a scandalous affair with his secretary, ending in an unplanned pregnancy. Taehyung’s mother had taken a large sum of money to remain quiet and to abort the baby. But she hadn’t gone through with the abortion and had decided to keep Taehyung a secret. It had all come to light when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, having only a few months left to live.

She had begged Baekhyun’s uncle to take care of Taehyung, and despite feeling initially betrayed, he took Taehyung under their roof.

His uncle had always lived with them, and with the addition of Taehyung, Baekhyun got a sibling that he had always wished for.

Baekhyun took another sip of his wine as he saw the Choi couple arguing over something. Seeing Choi Heechul, formerly known as Kim Heechul, shouting at his husband Choi Siwon wasn’t an unusual sight. Even the media had stopped covering every single fight the couple would have in a public setting.

“Honey, she is sixteen, it wouldn’t hurt to have a glass of wine,” Siwon persuaded his moody pregnant husband, who was shaking his head side to side aggressively.

“No means _no_! I will not let you defile her innocence with alcohol! She is a child so she should be having this mango juice instead,” Heechul waved the glass of mango juice he had requested especially for his lovely sister-in-law. “Not some disgusting wine!” Heechul spat as he sent daggers with his eyes to the wine glass in his husband’s hands.

“Just because you aren’t allowed to drink alcohol, it doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun, Oppa,” Choi Sulli, Siwon’s younger sister said in a whiny tone.

“That has got nothing to do with this Sulli! You are just a baby!” Heechul exclaimed.

“I am freaking nineteen!” Sulli retaliated exasperatedly. She looked at her older brother who just simply shrugged at her helplessly. He was completely whipped for his husband. Pouting, she looked around for someone that could be of help. She met Baekhyun’s on-looking gaze and smiled brightly.

Baekhyun who had been watching the whole conversation suddenly stiffened, knowing what was coming.

“Baekhyun oppa, come here!!” Sulli shouted.

Baekhyun took a final sip of his wine and passed the empty glass to a waiter that walked past him. He then slowly made his way towards the Choi family.

“How are you, Baekhyunnie?” Heechul asked as he enveloped Baekhyun into a tight hug. His belly was starting to show, and Baekhyun was mindful to not press too hard against it.

“I am fine, Hyung,” he answered Heechul and then turned to ask Siwon, “how is business going?”

“It’s going well, you know how it all is at this time of the-” Siwon started to explain when he was suddenly interrupted by his younger sister.

“Oppa, please! I did not ask Baekhyun to come here to discuss business,” Sulli complained. She wrapped her arm around Baekhyun’s right arm and proceeded to say, “Please help convince Heechul Oppa that its fine for me to drink some alcohol.”

“Ermm…” Baekhyun said as he met Heechul’s strong gaze, daring him to speak.

“Sulli-ah, who are you asking to convince me? Baekhyunnie himself was a baby just a few years ago,” Heechul admonished. Baekhyun was speechless at the pregnant male’s response.

“Look at those cute chubby cheeks! He could pass off for a minor even now, you both look the same age!” Heechul rambled on. Baekhyun protected his cheeks from Sulli’s and Siwon’s poking fingers. What has he gotten himself into? He thought, whilst trying to think of an escape plan.

“Siwon-ah, I want our baby to have Baekhyunnie’s chubby cheeks and the cute button nose!” Heechul demanded as if he was asking his husband to order him a product.

“Oh…of course the baby will have them,” Siwon mumbled helplessly, not knowing what else to say.

“He better, Choi Siwon!” Heechul said seriously and then continued to ramble on about what else he wanted for the baby. Siwon sighed helplessly, his eyes telling his sister to just escape whilst Heechul is distracted.

Sulli quickly grabbed Baekhyun’s arm and tugged him away.

“Thank you for distracting Heechul oppa. Since he’s been pregnant, he always gets obsessed with one topic and it’s really hard to distract him,” Sulli thanked Baekhyun. She then proceeded to leave before hugging and saying, “See you around Oppa!”

“Bye,” Baekhyun managed to say before the giddy young Choi, ran to her friends, finally having the chance to have some alcohol without her brother-in-law’s eagle eyes on her.

Baekhyun knew the majority of everyone at the party on a first-name basis, he could have easily started a conversation with anyone. But he still felt completely isolated.

***

“Yah, what the hell was that,” Taehyung shouted as he slammed the door of his Maserati and stormed towards the bright blue Ferrari that had cut him off earlier, nearly causing a serious head-on collision.

The owner of the blue Ferrari stepped out, not even looking slightly apologetic.

“Who the hell gave you a license when you can’t drive for shit!” Taehyung carried on yelling, as he walked right up to the young Park.

“Listen, you dipshit. You were driving like a turtle, I have far more important things to get to,” Sehun said with his usual poker face in place.

Taehyung seethed in anger, “We are both attending the same event, you fucking idiot!”

“But you aren’t the in-laws of the Kwon’s, now are you?” Sehun asked pompously, as he flicked his fringe to the side. “As expected, the Parks will always be better than the Byun family. In a month, we will have a second marriage between the Parks and the Prestigious Kwon family. You Byuns have no importance in any of these matters…you are merely invited for the sake of it.”

“You are such a fucker-” Taehyung started to say when Sehun just put his hand up, silencing the young Byun.

“I don’t have time to be talking to such petty people. Now hop along, we are already late,” Sehun drawled, as he started a fast pace towards the estate, throwing his keys to the valet.

“You Parks are such fucking snobs!” Taehyung groaned out loud, despite the snobby brat being too far away to hear him.

***

“I would like to thank you for making it to our charity gala tonight,” Kwon Jiyong spoke into the microphone, everyone clapping in response. “Tonight, we have broken the record for the most money gathered at a Charity Gala in Asia. Congratulations~”

Another huge round of applause followed. Baekhyun moved amongst the crowd, trying to find Taehyung. That young boy should have entered the party over an hour ago, but Baekhyun had yet to meet him.

“I would also like to take this chance to congratulate my sister on her wedding with Park Yoochun, which will be held at the end of this month,” Jiyong said with his legendary heart-melting smile, that had girls (and guys) swooning. “Also, we have more good news to share!”

“How much good news do you have?” Baekhyun muttered to himself as he carried on looking around. Despite everyone having been told to remove their masks now that the party was ending, some people still had them on, which made it difficult for Baekhyun to find Taehyung.

“The love of my life, Dara,” Baekhyun fought the urge to gag, Jiyong was absolutely smitten with the Park’s only daughter. He could see why, since Sandara had the look that fitted the cute concept that nearly every boy in Korea loves. “Is giving me the biggest joy since our marriage two years back.”

Murmurs filled the room, people guessing noisily what the good news could be. Some people even shouted out loud their assumptions, to which Jiyong replied, “Yes, that’s right. We are going to be parents!”

Baekhyun had to stop to clap along; the last thing he wanted was to seem rude. It was good news, but business-wise, it meant that the Parks and the Kwons were completely one. Which was never good news for the competitors.

Baekhyun had eventually given up looking for Taehyung, hoping that he would pop up soon so that they could leave this party.

Before Dara could come onto the stage and do her speech, a loud gunshot was heard. Suddenly screams filled the air, people rushing for cover. Baekhyun saw Jiyong push Dara to the floor and roll on top of her, before Baekhyun himself crouched down behind a nearby pillar.

It was after several minutes, the security guards entered the large hall to calm everybody down and give directions for a safe and calm exit. Baekhyun ran to his parents after spotting them amongst the frenzied exiting crowd.

“Eomma, Appa, have you seen Taehyung?” He asked, worry lacing his words.

“No, dear. Your father has suggested that we head back home now,” His mother said in a hurry, as his father ignored his question and walked towards his car.

“But what about Taehyung?” Baekhyun asked his mother, who sent an anxious look to Mr. Byun who was busy talking to their driver.

“Did you see him here tonight?”

“No, Mother.”

“Then it’s possibly he didn’t arrive at the party at all. I will tell your father that you stayed back to look for Taehyung.”

“Alright,” Baekhyun managed to say as his mother quickly pulled him into a quick embrace and left.

He stumbled amongst the crowd, going back to the main hall to find someone that could tell him the whereabouts of Taehyung.

As soon as he entered, he saw the Park family in deep discussion with the Kwon and Jung family.

Chanyeol, however, was not amongst them and seemed to be in the corner interrogating a seemingly terrified Sehun.

Finding it suspicious, Baekhyun decided to make his way towards them slowly. He could overhear bits of their conversation before they saw him approach.

“Sehun, the police will start interrogating you soon, so you better be telling me the truth here,” Chanyeol said with a strict tone but Baekhyun could hear the underlying worry.

“I…I..I don’t know what happened Hyung. I swear to God, I had nothing to do with this!” Sehun whimpered.

“Then why were you at the fucking crime scene?” Chanyeol cursed as he hit the wall next to Sehun’s resting head. “I hope to God, you aren’t the cause of this, the Byuns hate us enough already, Jung Yunho won’t be pleased and-” Chanyeol muttered as he ran his hand through his hair exasperatedly, and stopped talking when he saw Baekhyun standing a few meters away from them.

Before Chanyeol could open his mouth to address him, Baekhyun spoke first, “What happened, why did you mention us just now?” he asked.

“Baekhyun... I...” Chanyeol started to say but didn’t have the courage to continue.

Fear rocked through Baekhyun’s entire body. He took more steps so that he was face to face with the tall Park.

“Tell me Chanyeol, tell me now!” Baekhyun shouted, his voice getting higher at the end.

“Baekhyun, I am so sorry…” Chanyeol finally managed to meet his gaze and said in a low quiet voice. But Baekhyun knew Chanyeol wasn’t sincere with his apology, the Park’s will never have an ounce of good feelings for the Byuns.

“What are you apologising for, you dick-” Baekhyun said through his gritted teeth, his fists clenched tightly when he saw Jung Yunho approach him.

“Baekhyun-ah,” he called out his name and then turned to look at Chanyeol, sending him a look that probably meant ‘Don’t ruin it’ as Yunho’s glare had Chanyeol recoiling away from Baekhyun.

“Come with me,” Yunho ordered. Baekhyun sent a glare towards the Park siblings and followed the CEO of the Jung Empire.

Once Yunho led him into an empty balcony and closed the glass-paned doors behind them, he started to talk. “Baekhyun, I want you to be calm and whatever I am about to tell you now is highly confidential. So, don’t tell this to even your parents, I will do that myself.”

“What happened, I heard the Park brothers mentioning us?” Baekhyun asked.

“Baekhyun-ah, it is clear enough to say that the Syndicate was responsible for tonight’s attack,” Yunho explained. He motioned for Baekhyun to come over and lean over the balcony’s rails so that they could look down below.

Police cars were parked haphazardly in the front yard of the Kwon’s estate. The crime scene had its perimeters taped with police officers investigating the area.

Taehyung’s car was inside that very area.

“No…” Baekhyun said in a low voice as he shook his head, finally having an idea of what could have happened. “No, it can’t be.”

“I don’t want to give you false hope, but we ran an attendance test as people left the gala. Everyone is either present in the Manor now or have left for their homes, aside from Byun Taehyung…” Yunho said.

“He has to be here somewhere… or maybe he just left the party earlier. I haven’t seen him at all tonight,” Baekhyun explained.

“One person did see him tonight. In fact, they had a full-blown confrontation as witnessed by the valet parking staff,” Yunho said sadly.

“Who?” Baekhyun asked without missing a beat.

“Park Sehun,” Yunho’s voice sent a cold chill down Baekhyun’s spine.

“He could be framed for the…the murder of Taehyung unless the Syndicate admits to being responsible for it,” Yunho said.

“M-mu-murder?” Tears started rolling down Baekhyun’s cheeks, he tried to keep his sobs in but a loud one escaped before he crumpled to the ground.

“Baekhyun, get a grip on yourself, please get up,” Yunho gripped onto Baekhyun’s shoulders to get him to stand upright. But Baekhyun’s legs had no energy left to stand. He leant his entire body against the balcony railing, his arms still gripping Yunho’s sturdy arms.

“Look, the police are calling it a murder case based on the amount of blood found at the crime scene,” Yunho went on to explain. "There is too much of it."

Baekhyun looked at Yunho with his emotionless eyes, he was starting to feel lightheaded. Yunho tried to salvage as much as he could of the Byun heir before he lost him.

“Taehyung’s body wasn’t found though, Baekhyun. His body is missing,” Yunho’s voice cut through Baekhyun’s fogged up mind. He suddenly became alert; he gripped onto Yunho’s arm that was stabilising him.

“So…so he could be alive?” Baekhyun stammered, his sudden hopeful voice had Yunho cringing internally.

“Hypothetically, yes,” Yunho admitted involuntarily. He didn’t want to give any false hope to the younger male, but the distraught expression on his face was making his heart clench.

Baekhyun sighed in relief, his body relaxing in Yunho’s hold. “Why didn’t you say so?” He asked. “I thought…I thought I had lost him forever…”

“But it is still a possibility, Baekhyun. So please try to prepare yourself for the worst news, please,” Yunho advised.

Baekhyun knew that he would never be able to prepare himself; he had only been living thanks to Taehyung’s presence in his dark miserable life up until now. If there is no Taehyung in his life, he is sure that he would want to join him wherever he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twitter - @baekingyeolk


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: Mentions of depression, parent-child abuse and suicidal thoughts. Please skip this chapter if you feel uncomfortable reading any of the stuff that’s mentioned.

After the private conversation with Jung Yunho was over, Baekhyun was told to retire to one of the many guest bedrooms the Kwons own. He rang his mother quickly to tell her to come with his father to the Kwon Estate again as per Jung Yunho’s request.

Jung Yunho was planning on gathering all the Elite families at the Kwon estate that night, to hold an important meeting regarding the recent chaotic event.

Once the call had been made, Baekhyun walked along a lengthy corridor decorated generously with lavish yellow bulb lamps hung a meter or so apart on velvety red walls, casting a comfortable glow into the dark corridor. There were also fluorescent lights placed on the high roof, but for now, to keep the atmosphere of a century-old estate, they had been turned off.

Baekhyun was too busy looking at an old painting on the wall as he slowly walked past, to see the oncoming figure walking straight into him.

“Uff,” Baekhyun heard the low grunt, as he himself let out a ‘manly’ squeak from the impact. And before he could see the person clearly he started to apologise.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t see –“ He looked up to see the person in the dim lighting and stopped. “Chanyeol?”

“It's fine,” Chanyeol replied grimly, the lamps made it hard for Baekhyun to see Chanyeol’s face clearly. But he could tell that the young Park wasn’t in a good mood. _Not like he was ever in a good mood around Baekhyun._

Baekhyun speechlessly decided to carry on walking to his assigned bedroom. He was too drained after conversing with Yunho and now had no energy to deal with Park Chanyeol’s presence.

“Wait!” Chanyeol called out urgently, running after Baekhyun who was walking at a fast pace.

The shorter brunette however ignored Chanyeol’s commanding voice and carried on walking even faster. _How many bedrooms did he have to walk past before he got to his?_ Baekhyun complained in his head.

“I said wait, god damn it!” Chanyeol growled as he managed to grab onto Baekhyun’s arm, swinging him around to face him.

Baekhyun let out an undignified yelp at the sudden painful action, before yelling, “Let go of me, Park!”

“No, not until you listen to me.” Chanyeol countered, his strong defiant glare making Baekhyun gulp.

Pulling his arm away harshly from Chanyeol’s grip, Baekhyun seethed, “Fine, what?”

“It’s…About Sehun…” Chanyeol started to say, his voice wavering slightly, clearly confused on how to start. Baekhyun was astounded to see the multimedia empire heir fumble with his words. He had never seen Park Chanyeol this nervous before.

“Sehun? I don’t give a shit about that brat, Chanyeol. Now please, just leave me alone, I don’t want to hear your emotional sob story of how your brother is a perfect angel.” Baekhyun sneered back, easily guessing the intention of Chanyeol’s urge to talk to him now. The tall Park was worried about his darling little brother. Baekhyun made sure to repeat the exact cutting words that Chanyeol had said to him a few weeks ago at Lee Donghae’s funeral.

Chanyeol clenched his jaw. Just before Baekhyun could turn around to walk off again, he held Baekhyun tightly in an iron grip and turned him around to slam him against the wall.

Baekhyun blinked his eyes at the sudden force, and before he could scream at him, he found Chanyeol’s face a few centimetres away from him.  
Baekhyun gulped nervously. Chanyeol was too close. So close that Baekhyun could feel his warm breath on his lips, smelling of wine that he had probably drunk at the party tonight.

The short distance between them had Baekhyun licking his lips apprehensively, his wide eyes staring at the taller male in shock, his mouth partly open to release shallow breaths as he tried to calm his heart and breathing rate.

Chanyeol’s large eyes that had been busy probing into Baekhyun’s flicked downwards to see the nervous action of the short Byun empire heir.

“Listen here you little shit,” He started to say, his voice lower than before; the intimidating Park Chanyeol was back. Baekhyun fought the urge to roll his eyes, and instead struggled against Park Chanyeol’s strong hold on his shoulders.

_He won’t let Chanyeol dominate him like this. But why were his legs starting to feel like jelly? Why was being in such close proximity to the Park heir making him breathless and sending his heart into a frantic speed?_Were the thoughts that zipped through his mind, as he saw the frustrated male in front of him glare at him.

“Sehun didn’t do it, ok? He is innocent in all of this.” Chanyeol eventually blurted out, his voice filled with great emotion.  


“Sehun and innocent? Pfft.” Baekhyun scoffed, as he carried on to struggle in Chanyeol’s grip which was getting tighter and tighter.  


It was starting to hurt Baekhyun, he was sure that his arms were going to bruise. But he didn’t want to look like a wimp next to Chanyeol and so he contained his pained whimpers by clenching his jaw and glaring right back at him.  


“Once the police start their investigation, don’t say anything against Sehun,” Chanyeol instructed, hoping that Baekhyun would listen to him for once.  


Baekhyun was stunned at what the taller male was saying, “Are you telling me to fucking lie to the police, Park?” He exclaimed out loud.  


“What lie? I told you Sehun is innocent in all this. He didn’t do anything-“ Chanyeol started to defend.  


“Listen here Chanyeol, the Parks are always involved in the Byuns’ downfall in one way or another. There is no way Sehun didn’t have a role in this. And I will say whatever I want to the police,” Baekhyun scorned.  


Chanyeol shoved him against the wall again in anger and then snarled, “Don’t you fucking dare cause any harm to my brother. He is only sixteen, him getting dragged into a murder case like this-“  


“There is no murder…Taehyung-ah isn’t dead!” Baekhyun screamed suddenly as he thrashed, scaring Chanyeol from his loud high-pitched voice and made him lose his grip on Baekhyun.  


“You say that Sehun doesn’t deserve all of this? Then what about Taehyung huh?” Baekhyun continued to shout. “He’s not that much older than Sehun, he’s not even eighteen, damn it!”  


Baekhyun fought back his tears; he was still trying to take in tonight’s overwhelming events. “Nobody knows where he is! He’s probably been kidnapped by the Syndicate and god knows what he is going through right now!”  


“Baek-“ Chanyeol said as he took a step forward towards the smaller near tearful male.  


“Just shut up! You are a selfish bastard. Don’t you dare approach me again, Chanyeol! I swear to god you will regret it!” Baekhyun bellowed, stepping away from the tall Park. “Just leave me the hell alone!”  


And with that Baekhyun ran.  


Leaving Chanyeol to look at his retreating back, the muffled sobs that broke out of the heir of the Byun Empire echoed piercingly along the large and empty corridor.

~*~

“I would like to thank you all for gathering here again tonight,” Yunho’s voice echoed in the large lounge room of the Kwon’s. Each of the Elites’ families had occupied a large sofa, sipping on tea that was served by the servants.  


“Last time we had met like this was for the great loss of the Lee family. Today it's for the Byun’s,” Yunho’s words caused Baekhyun to halt his breathing for a few seconds, his body to tense up and become rigid until he felt his mother’s warm hand on his own, making him loosen up enough to breathe freely.  


Jung Yunho had apparently talked to his parents separately when he had tried to take a nap earlier. Emphasis on _‘tried’_. After the unpleasant confrontation with Chanyeol, he had been too distraught to even shut his eyes.  


“Changmin here received an anonymous letter forty minutes ago,” Yunho announced. “It was from the Syndicate.”  


Horrified gasps filled the room with Jessica Jung letting out a high-pitched squeal of fear, startling the people around her. “So the Syndicate was here tonight?” She cried out, her body quivering as sobs broke out.  


“Yes,” Changmin answered indifferently, yet his eyes conveyed the love and empathy he had for the elder Jung sister. “I have some connections in the Syndicate after much pleading for answers, one of them wrote a letter to confirm that it is the Syndicate that is responsible for the recent attacks.”  


Baekhyun turned to look at his father to see his reaction and was stunned to see that he was calm. He then leant forward to whisper quietly to his mother, “Have you read the letter?”  


“Yes dear, don’t worry they will explain it to everyone now,” His mother replied, her voice cracking as she spoke, as she patted his knee comfortingly. But Baekhyun could see from her wavering tone and her red swollen eyes that she had cried.  


Baekhyun instantly regretted staying in his room now, as he had still not been able to sleep. He had been too scared to run into Chanyeol again, worried that he was still lingering in the corridor.  


Now having a grasp on the situation at hand; perhaps, it would have been better to have only his parents present with him when the letter’s content was revealed. But now his emotions will be on full display for everyone to see, and probably a source of entertainment for a certain Park family member.  


“I shall read out loud for everyone now,  


_Tonight’s attack was aimed at Byun Baekhyun. However, we the Syndicate have mistakenly besieged Byun Taehyung, as the assailant that was sent had seen him in a confrontation with Park Sehun, thinking that they were both the heirs of the Byun and Park empires, he misguidedly targeted Byun Taehyung.”_

Baekhyun shot a glance at Chanyeol who also turned to look at him at the moment they were mentioned. Chanyeol swallowed nervously, as Baekhyun gave him a glare, saying _‘Told you that Sehun would be at fault’._

They both then turned to look at Changmin, whose hand started to waver whilst holding the letter in his hand.  


Sighing deeply, he finally folded the paper and put it in his pocket. He bent his head down in remorse and finally said the last sentence that had been written on the letter.  


_“Byun Taehyung shares the same fate as Lee Donghae. His body was taken so that it can’t be used as further evidence by the Police in locating the Syndicate.”_

Hearing the heart-wrenching news, Chanyeol glanced at Baekhyun to see that his face had gone slack, mouth slightly open and his body unmoving. The colour was slowly draining from Baekhyun’s face, as he stared wide-eyed into nothingness.  


Baekhyun had completely frozen up to the point that his mother had to engulf him into a hug and instruct him to breathe. Chanyeol could only watch as Baekhyun sat frozen, his wavering pupils fear-stricken and far away. Chanyeol had to suppress the urge to go to the nearly passing out male. But Baekhyun then let out a sudden rough exhalation, opening his mouth to speak, but snapped it shut again and just swallowed.  


After being consoled by his mother and Heechul who had come over to offer some comfort, he managed to say, “No…it can’t be true.”  


It had come out raspy, barely audible, but everyone in the room had heard him.  


Everybody looked onto him with pitiful expressions, not knowing what to say or do for the grieving Byun family.  


It was after a few minutes of silence that Jaejoong spoke, “The main objective of tonight’s meeting was that we would advise all of us to live in one place.”  


“Why would we do that?” the wife of Choi Minho, Sooyoung inquired.  


“Changmin-ah also found out that the Syndicate had put a ticking bomb in the Lee’s residence two nights ago. God knows how many more they have placed,” Jaejoong enlightened steadily, watching horror seep into every elite’s face in the room.  


“Oh my god! What are we going to do?” Mrs Park asked in anguish, her hand clutching her chest as her husband comforted her.  


Meanwhile, Baekhyun wasn’t listening to the ongoing discussion. He felt light-headed and disoriented; his mind had begun to buzz with the thoughts of Taehyung. Taehyung couldn’t surely be dead. His darling little brother-like cousin, who always had a wide smile on his face and made sure to make his Hyung smile too. Would Baekhyun ever see that smile again?  


He wiped his brow that was drenched in sweat, trying to block the memory of anything ever happening to Taehyung out of his mind. No, no, no, he is not dead! Get a grip on yourself! Baekhyun thought to himself.  


“We, Jungs, have a hidden property on the outskirts of Seoul, we were thinking of us all migrating there.” Yunho declared.  


“When shall we start moving?” Mr Kwon asked as he soothed his anxious wife.  


“As soon as possible, I say we should move by sunrise.” Changmin decided. “Time is of the essence.By the time they catch wind of what we are planning, we would have hopefully gone undercover.”  


“Excellent plan. Let’s all get packing then,” Yoochun drawled, as he stood up, setting everyone off to get up from their seats. Murmurs filled the air as the families started to depart.  


But the Byun’s remained on their allocated sofa, with Baekhyun still frozen in shock. Chanyeol gave him a quick glance before leaving the living room with Choi Minho, Siwon’s younger brother.  


“Hyung, I am so worried. Do you think it is wise of us to take this step?” Minho asked worriedly.  


“I don’t know. But something I am sure about is that whoever in Syndicate that is after us, won't be stopping anytime soon. Not until a few more deaths occur among us at least,” Chanyeol stated sadly.  


Minho nodded and then hugged Chanyeol, “Take care Hyung. I will see you later on.”  


“See you,” Chanyeol said as he patted the young Choi.  


The crestfallen expression of Baekhyun remained on Chanyeol’s mind the entire night. He knew the former hadn’t fully recovered from the first assassination attempt, let alone have to deal with a death in his family.  


Chanyeol vowed that this would be the last death amongst the elites. They won’t be caught off-guard again.

~*~

“Hyung, I was wondering if you could possibly get the Jung Sisters to sit in my car,” Kai asked Jaejoong with the cutest expression he could conjure. His fans called this expression of his as ‘Jongin bear’ since he looked just as cuddly as a teddy bear.  


Jaejoong, however, had a different opinion.  


Frowning Jaejoong asked suspiciously, “And why would I do that, Jongin-ah?”  


“You know…just to get to know the Jungs a bit more,” After receiving an unimpressed look from his hyung, Kai exasperatedly said, “Hyung! Since you got married to Yunho hyung, I haven’t really had the chance to get to know your in-laws well at all! We had always considered them as our rivals for so many years! But now we are a family and I would like to know my family well,” and then inserted his billion-dollar smile, that had everyone swooning.  


Not buying any of the bullshit that was coming out of the younger Kim, Jaejoong just lazily drawled, “I doubt any of your intentions are based on _family feelings_.” and ended with an eye roll.  


Gasping, Jongin put on a fake hurt expression and pouted, “Hyung what do you mean? I know Sica noona is taken by Changmin Hyung an-“  


“Krystal isn’t though.” Jaejoong cut in.  


“Yes, but we could be good friends since we are both 1994-ers. And who knows, maybe we will be attending the same university-“ Kai babbled.  


“No Jongin. I’m not letting you have your playboy ways with my in-laws,” Jaejoong said strictly. He didn’t want Kai’s promiscuity to extend to his in-laws. He was still new to the family. He was still to be accepted fully, the last thing he wanted was his immature cousin to start breaking hearts.  


“Can a guy and a girl not be friends? What is wrong with society judging such a pure and innocent relationship?” Kai shouted dramatically.  


His shouting caught the attention of Jung Yunho, who entered the conversation, “What’s happening here?”  


“Hyung, I was hoping if I could get to know your family a bit better,” Jongin suggested sweetly.  


“Yes of course, why not,” Yunho said as he smiled affectionately at the young Kim, he ruffled Jongin’s soft brown locks but caught his partner frowning.  


“He wants Krystal to sit in his car,” Jaejoong disclosed, in response to Yunho’s questioning gaze.  


“So? What’s wrong with that? She is in Jongin’s age group. These kids would get along well~” Yunho said obliviously.  


Jaejoong rolled his eyes and said, “I give up.”  


“So is that a yes?” Kai asked hopefully.  


“It’s a yes from me, I do hope you have asked Krystal about this first, though,” Yunho answered, still confused by the scowl being presented on Jaejoong’s face.  


“Oh, that I will do now, no worries, I won’t be rejected, for sure,” Jongin smirked and left the couple before he heard his brooding cousin mutter ‘young boys and their hormones’.  


Once the young Kim had left, Yunho pulled Jaejoong by his waist, and asked as he coddled his pouting other half, “What’s got you in a bad mood?”  


“Nothing. You are too stupid to get it anyway,” Jaejoong teased, refusing to be indulged by his husband.  


Yunho laughed out loud and then whispered seductively in Jaejoong’s ears, “You are lucky that I love you.” He pecked his cheeks as he carried on to say, “If not you won’t be able to get away with saying that to such a powerful man like me.”  


“In the past, I was able to say much worse words to you,” Jaejoong scoffed, refusing to admit that he ever found Yunho intimidating.  


“That you have, but now, here you are in my arms and with a ring on your finger,” Yunho smirked, planting a kiss to Jaejoong’s forehead. However, all he got in reply was a dejected sigh. “What’s upsetting you?” Yunho asked. “Is it the Syndicate?”  


Nodding, Jaejoong sighed again and said softly, “I am just so restless thinking about who in that organization is behind all these attacks.”  


He rested his hands on Yunho’s shoulders, and reached up to peck his lips, and then mumbled, “What if that person targets you? You are the one leading us all right now, after all.”  


“Don’t worry, Changmin is all eyes and ears. And trust me, they won’t even dare think about messing with us,” He said before exhaling deeply. “It’s just these new money families that are in trouble for now,”  


“Do you have any idea who it could be?” Jaejoong asked, his big brown doe eyes exposing the fear and dread to his husband.  


“Yoochun said that there is a high chance of criminal gangs being involved. But don’t think about it now sweetheart, have you packed all your things?”  
Jaejoong nodded in deep thought.  


“Let’s get going then.”

~*~

Baekhyun was still bewildered at the sight of the maids collecting all the Byuns’ belongings so that they could make their way to the top-secret private Jung estate.  


Baekhyun was seated on an antique armchair in their entrance hall as ordered by his mother. He had managed to let a few tears out when he had a shower earlier but had closed himself off again when coming downstairs.  


His father had yet not said a word to him; Baekhyun knew that Mr. Byun was also feeling Taehyung’s loss; he just wasn’t good at expressing his emotions except for anger.  


Just thinking about Taehyung’s bright face was inducing a throbbing heartache in Baekhyun. His chest felt constricted since Changmin had read the letter.  


Baekhyun still couldn’t believe that Taehyung was no longer with them.  


His preceding conversation with Yunho had given him so much hope; a sprout of optimism had been planted. That nothing was wrong with Taehyung, that they will retrieve him from whoever had taken him.  


But nothing like that had happened.  


Instead, the world came crashing down. Baekhyun had found breathing to become such a tiresome act. He had wanted to scream out loud in agony for taking away the one and only person he had truly cared about.  


What would he do now?  


Who will he live for?  


Baekhyun was slowly starting to lose the will to live. And nobody but Taehyung would have realised this since after all, he was the only friend that Baekhyun ever had.

~*~

Each and every influential elite family had safely transferred to the Jung's residence by dawn. Since most of them were exhausted, they all retired quickly to their bedrooms to sleep.  


The youngsters, however, stayed in the immensely extravagant living room; giggles were heard as Kai whispered into Krystal’s ear. Taemin and Sehun smirked; knowing that it won’t be long until those two become an item.  


The car ride had been eventful; Jongin had spent the entire journey flirting with the younger Jung sister. Meanwhile, Sehun and Taemin joked around and helped their ‘bro’ by complimenting him every now and then to impress Krystal.  


It seemed like their plan had worked, guessing from the way Krystal was leaning comfortably against Jongin’s arm as they conversed.  


Chanyeol was in the kitchen with Choi Minho and Choi Sooyoung, and they were asking him as many questions as they could regarding the Syndicate organisation.  


After all, the Choi family hadn’t been part of it until now. Choi Siwon was chosen to represent their family briefly after the assassination of Lee Donghae. His addition to the Syndicate will be made this week. Hence, the Choi family did not have any attacks on them yet and hopefully none at all.  


Lee Taemin, however, was far too young to join and that put the Lee family in constant danger.  


And with the way Mr. Byun had shown his clear disapproval in their first meeting about this matter, Chanyeol was sure that Baekhyun won’t be joining anytime soon either.  


For now, the Elite Syndicate squad is composed of Jung Yunho, Kim Jaejoong, Park Yoochun, Kwon Jiyong and soon, Choi Siwon.  


Only one member of each family was needed, yet Chanyeol still felt that he had an active role to play. His elder brother had always been the weaker one, being asthmatic for the majority of his life; he could never be trained physically in any way.  


So it was Chanyeol who had to take on the extensive gun training as well as acquire a black belt in martial arts, in case there weren’t any bodyguards around to protect him and his family.  


As a result, Chanyeol felt like he was also part of the Syndicate. He even involved himself in nearly all the meetings that Yunho held between the Elite-Syndicate group.  


“I still can’t believe that this is actually happening. We already have two deaths amongst us! Thank god there was no death in our family, but it is still so upsetting,” Sooyoung said with her head down and eyes watery.  


Chanyeol sat across the couple on the marble kitchen island.  


“Both Donghae and Taehyung will be deeply missed,” Minho said genuinely, rubbing Sooyoung’s arm comfortingly.  


“We will avenge them. We aren’t just going to hide here and do nothing. Yunho said that he and Changmin have come up with some plan. We just need to find the right time to execute it,” Chanyeol explained to the young couple, knowing fully well that they had many questions.  


They were known to be one of the most talkative couples amongst the Elites, always present on TV talk shows or organising social dinners that always led to discussions on society and the growth of their empire.  


“Let’s just do it as soon as possible,” Minho suggested. “What if the Syndicate finds out we are here?”  


“We need to understand exactly what we are dealing with here, Minho,” Chanyeol replied, understanding the other’s impatience. But the Syndicate seemed too cunning and their plan had to be practically flawless in order for it to work.  


“Duh, we are dealing with the Syndicate obviously,” Sooyoung said sarcastically.  


“It's not as easy as that, Sooyoung noona,” Chanyeol sighed, as he rubbed his forehead. He had been having a constant headache since the news of Taehyung’s death. With a second death, the situation was a lot more serious than he had thought it would be.  


At the moment everything seemed to be out of their hands. But he didn’t want to create panic amongst the Elites, all he can do for now is to give them hope.  


“Look, the Syndicate isn’t just some _evil_ criminal mafia organisation,” Chanyeol said, hoping to clear the confusion the Choi couple had.  
Sooyoung quirked her eyebrows up, clearly judging what he had said. “So you are saying that whatever that goes on in there is _legal?_”  


“No…ok, there are some _minor_ illegal activities,” Chanyeol said.  


“Such as?” Sooyoung urged.  


“Tax evasion, making deals with some black markets, handling of guns-“ Chanyeol listed before he was cut off.  


“That sounds like major illegal activities to me,” Sooyoung criticized, then looked at her husband, “Don’t you think, honey?”  


“I do…but there has to be a reason why all the Elites got involved in the first place,” Minho said, as he handed his wife and Chanyeol a mug of tea each that he had been busy making before.  


“It's easy. The greed for power is what has landed us all in this mess. Our parents made some decisions years back; we have all been raised in the lap of luxury and riches. Have we ever questioned _where_ and _how_ our parents got that money?” Chanyeol asked rhetorically.  


Before Sooyoung could answer, Chanyeol carried on to say, “The answer to that question isn’t as obvious as saying ‘the family business’. All of our parents have made controversial deals at some point. Which they eventually had to cover up before the media or the government caught wind of them. The Syndicate is an extremely useful resource to have. You have access to so much control and power, even the government can do nothing against the supremacy of the Syndicate.”  


“Well, now we are screwed since we are all going to be killed off one by one,” Sooyoung finalised dramatically, as she wrapped her hands tightly around the warm mug, relishing in it’s warmth.  


“We just need to know who it is and we have many theories as of now,” Chanyeol said desperately, as he sipped the warm drink, trying to calm his nerves.  


“How about we take this all to the police…?” Sooyoung proposed.  


“And send all of our parents or siblings to jail, no thanks, noona,” Chanyeol countered. “Dad had to pay a huge sum of money to get them off Sehun’s back. They were going to drag him into a murder investigation. That poor boy would have been scared and had a criminal record if we hadn’t intervened.”  


Minho whistled, “That would have taken _a lot_ of money.”  


“Ironically enough, it was through the Syndicate’s connections that we were able to evade the criminal investigation,” Chanyeol admitted gloomily.  


The police wasn't an easy force to corrupt. Especially in this day and age, corruption had dwindled down to very small numbers. However, the Syndicate has access to some high post officers, who are also benefiting from the organisation in some way, and therefore have all the necessary connections needed to evade criminal investigations and arrests.  


“How does that work? We are asking for help from the very organisation that is the cause of all this?” Sooyoung questioned.  


“Well, I personally think that somebody is either using Syndicate’s name to attack us or there is someone in that organisation that doesn’t take a liking to the Elites suddenly getting so much power,” Chanyeol assumed from all the stuff that he heard so far.  


Silence filled the kitchen after Chanyeol’s words, all of them in deep thoughts of how to solve the problem.

~*~

Baekhyun had been completely silent throughout the entire journey to the supposed safe haven in his parents’ car. His mother had tried to start a conversation with him, but it had always ended after a few words.  


Mr. Byun had uttered angrily, “Useless excuse of a son,” after Mrs. Byun’s multiple failed attempts to cajole her son into small talk.  


Baekhyun had ignored the insult uttered by his father and instead carried on looking at the scenery passing by through the car window.  


When they had arrived at the Jung’s estate, Baekhyun ran to his room before anyone could have had the chance to talk to him. He knew that the rest of same-aged acquaintances were probably downstairs conversing and just hanging out together as they usually did.  


Baekhyun had always felt left out amongst them.  


And today won’t be any different. He didn’t want to see their pitiful glances; it reminded him more of Taehyung not being here with him.  


Just an hour or so before midnight, his bedroom’s door slammed open, causing Baekhyun to jump up in fear. He turned around to see his father, closing the door behind him and walking steadily towards the bed.  


Baekhyun became alert and shuffled backwards until his back hit the frame of the bed.  


“Fath-“  


“Shut up,” Mr. Byun slurred crossly.  


Baekhyun gulped as he noticed that his father had drunk a bit, his face was red from excessive alcohol and possible rage, which Baekhyun knew very well that he would be at the receiving end of tonight.  


“I have had enough of your sorry excuses!” His father shouted loudly, Baekhyun trembled in terror. He was hoping that his father wouldn’t be aggressive tonight; he had enough to deal with already.  


He lowered his gaze to his shaking hands, which were clasped together tightly.  


“Look at me when I talk to you!” ordered Mr. Byun.  


“Y-yes Father,” Baekhyun replied meekly, his voice shaking.  


“How long will you mope around like the pussy you are, eh?” interrogated Mr. Byun. “Don’t you know we still have an empire to run? Socialising is integral to our work, shutting yourself in your room is going to send our business into ruins!”  


Baekhyun knew that his father was upset that he hadn’t stayed downstairs to socialize. But he needed time to get over his grief. It had barely been six hours since Taehyung’s death had been pronounced. His mind was in tatters, unable to participate in the exhausting social activities the Elites came up with.  


“Father…our Tae…” tears slipped down his cheeks, as he used his cousin’s nickname. “Our Tae is gone, Father…how can…you get over that…so quickly?”  


Mr. Byun carded his fingers through his greying hair, refusing to look at his son breaking down. After cursing under his breath he retorted, “So what do you expect us to do? Sit here and grieve until we all go bankrupt?!”  


“I just want some time…at least give me a day to settle myself,” Baekhyun pleaded.  


“You lost tonight’s opportunity to make good contacts. I can already see the Chois getting chummy with the Parks. Nobody would want to associate with the Byuns if their heir is just a fucking idiot who stays in his bedroom the whole time,” Mr. Byun said spitefully.  


“Father..I promise. I won’t give another excuse to avoid any socialising…just for tonight I want to be alone,” Baekhyun tried to convince his father to just let him be.  


“You better! Taehyung was far more hardworking than you. The Syndicate was so stupid to have him killed instead of you…I would have gladly handed you over if it meant that they would leave us Byuns alone,” His father went on to say.  


Baekhyun closed his eyes suddenly as if he could stop the hurtful words registering into his mind.  


But they did, they always did. The words would imprint onto his brain like a permanent tattoo.  


And then they would come back with larger amplification of pain whenever he tried to sleep.  


Taehyung was the mute button to those hurtful words that would haunt him and make him sleepless. What would he do without him now?  


With Baekhyun being in his deep thoughts, he didn’t notice his father approaching. It was too late to get away when his father gripped onto his wrist, twisting it harshly.  


Baekhyun tried to pull back and screamed in pain, “Father, stop! You are hurting me-”  


“You won’t learn like this. You keep shaming me in front of everyone. Sometimes it’s your slutty endeavours or your dumb as fuck business skills.” Mr. Byun spat out, his eyes showing no mercy.  


Baekhyun cried, as he begged his father to leave him alone. “I promise, I will do better. I promise...”  


“It doesn’t work like that Baekhyun…you have been a bad boy so you will be punished accordingly. You lost us a lot tonight. _Including_ Taehyung,” Mr. Byun sneered, as he pulled out his belt from his loops.  


The last comment had Baekhyun freezing up. He had just been blamed him for Taehyung’s death…the thought had Baekhyun spiralling down into further darkness. 

Was he really responsible? Of course, he was. Ultimately the assassin had thought that Taehyung was actually Baekhyun when killing him. _His father was right, he was the cause of Taehyung’s death,_ Baekhyun concluded finally.  


His thoughts were suddenly cut off as his father roughly manhandled him to take off his shirt. Forcing him into a position where with his back facing his father, legs planted onto the ground and his hands suspending his upper body over the bed.  


He knew too well now to not rebel against his father, or the punishment will be longer and much worse. He bit his lip as the first crack of the whip was hit against his bare back.  


After ten torturous whips, Baekhyun had lost count, his arms suddenly losing their strength, causing him to fall face forward into the mattress. But his father continued, with each crack of the whip, curse words were thrown at the sobbing boy.  


Later on, when his father was finally drained of punishing him, his father ordered, “You better cover yourself up tomorrow when coming down for breakfast. You don’t want to shame our family even more” and then left.  


Baekhyun cried, his back stinging, with only one thought in his mind. Who would tend his back now?  


Knowing his mother, she probably had been ordered by his father to stay away from him. It was only Taehyung who got away with caring for Baekhyun so openly.  


Taehyung-ah, why did you leave me? What would I do without you?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: mentions of suicide attempt and child abuse

Despite the present circumstances, all the families were eating a full English breakfast in one of the largest dining rooms at the Jung Estate. The atmosphere was surprisingly bright and joyful.

Jokes were being thrown around by the young Elites, whilst the elder generations took part in flattering conversations to strengthen their business relations.

Baekhyun was still trying to consume his first sausage. He stabbed his fork playfully into the scrambled eggs, his ears filtering out the conversations around him. 

His mother had come secretly to him before they had headed down for breakfast to tend to his wounds, bandaging them so that they won’t be infected.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but compare his mother’s nursing hands to his late cousin’s. He had badly wanted to break down then but didn’t want to anger his father anymore and bring further disgrace to his family by being late to breakfast.

Nobody questioned the silent Byun Heir, but everyone glanced at him every now and then. Including Chanyeol. Who at every opportunity, stared at him with his probing gaze nodding along to what Jongdae was saying, waiting for Baekhyun to meet his eyes and then refused to break eye contact with Baekhyun as if it were some competition.

The Byun Heir stared defiantly back at him, sipping on his glass of water and raising his eyebrow when Chanyeol got scolded by Jongdae for not listening to him properly.

Baekhyun was usually a talkative guy and was considered insanely attractive; hence he always had a lot of attention directed at him wherever he went.

Many celebrities, as well as politicians and even members of the Elite families themselves, had tried courting him in the past. Yet, Baekhyun never had a proper relationship with anyone, only having casual dates and hook-ups whenever he deemed convenient.

He was fairly notorious for sleeping around. The media would make sure to expose his affairs as loudly as possible, giving him the promiscuous image of a playful Heir. His father wasn’t too pleased about this image but Baekhyun needed an outlet for his stress and so he didn’t care much about this disreputable image he had developed over the years.

Besides he wasn’t the only one from the Elites who sought such stress relief, there were many affluent youngsters that were occasionally seen in the most luxurious clubs in Seoul.

Baekhyun admitted fancying the idea of getting pampered. He enjoyed seeing people worship and adore his so-called ‘beautiful’ body and send him into a lust-crazed state that ultimately helped him with forgetting all of the dilemmas and anxieties he held inside him.

Yet, it was never enough.

Taehyung had always warned him how unhealthy this diversion was for him, but Baekhyun had constantly been stubborn regarding this matter.

So now, sitting here amongst the elites amidst all the seemingly fake conversations, all Baekhyun could think of was how he could possibly escape the estate. He just wanted to go to the nearest club and lose himself to the numbness of alcohol; avoiding all the recent events that he had gone through.

He will need to ask Yunho’s permission first, as nothing could be done without him allowing it, but he was too embarrassed to do so. 

_Maybe Jaejoong would be the best person to talk to,_ Baekhyun nibbled at his lower lip.

Once the agonizing ordeal of breakfast was over, everyone slowly migrated to the living room to carry on with their conversations.

The Elites really loved to talk, especially when they felt uncomfortable.

Baekhyun looked around to see that nobody had noticed his absence in the moving crowd and took this moment to pull Jaejoong aside.

“Hyung, I wanted to talk with you,” Baekhyun spoke with a rough voice, he had been crying all night and these were his first words this morning.

He had cried when his mother had come to tend to him this morning. It was normal for no words to be exchanged between the mother and son after such violent episodes from Mr. Byun.

Jaejoong noticed the change in his voice and swiftly engulfed him into a warm hug, “Yes, of course, you can! Wait, I know just the perfect place where we can talk.”

He led Baekhyun to a private study room that was unlocked by Jaejoong, who then gestured to the young Byun to enter.

“Now, nobody would dare to disturb us,” Jaejoong said in a light tone. Hoping to put Baekhyun at ease to share his troubles. “Now tell me what’s troubling you, Baekhyun-ah.”

Baekhyun fiddled with his thumbs once he felt Jaejoong’s entire attention on him.

Despite feeling like the majority of the people residing in this estate were fake with most of their emotions. Jaejoong and Heechul were one of the few that were always blunt with their words; they didn’t share the common fake front that all the elites did. So he felt the closest to them.

“Hyung, I was wondering if I could leave the estate for a while, I don’t feel comfortable or at ease with all these families in one place,” Baekhyun explained after gaining the courage to talk. He knew very well that his request would be rejected. “The whole atmosphere here is too suffocating.”

“Baekhyun-ah,” Jaejoong said softly, as he slowly guided Baekhyun to sit down on a leather couch and sat beside him. “If you are finding it hard to come to terms with the grief and loss, I could arrange for you to talk to Taemin. He, too, wouldn’t mind sharing his suffering.”

Baekhyun shook his head, “No Hyung, that’s fine. I just thought if it’s possible for me to just go out for an hour or so,” Baekhyun realised that Jaejoong hadn’t understood his point.

“Do you want to go out now? I can go with you after I manage to convince Yunho, that is…” Jaejoong replied after some thought.

“No, not now. In fact, I want to go in the evening, and entirely on my own,” Baekhyun replied adamantly.  
Jaejoong gave him a weird look, “Baekhyun, you know it isn’t safe for you to go out at all, let alone on your own…”

“I know, but I promise I will be careful. I just need to spend some time away from all of this. _Please_…” Baekhyun fiddled with his fingers as he gave his best puppy look.

“Is there something that you are hiding, Baek? Is there someone here bothering you? Is it the Parks?” Jaejoong started to fire questions seriously. But after pouting deep in thought he muttered, “The estate is huge enough to not run into them though…”

“Hyung, I-“

“It’s only for a matter of a few weeks Baekhyun-ah. Yunho just needs to make sure that there will be no further attacks. You are a prime target for the Syndicate right now. It would simply be foolish of us to let you out of our sight even for a minute in public.” Jaejoong stated seriously.

Baekhyun sighed hopelessly, knowing that he won’t be able to go out. Jaejoong was the most understanding out of the ’86 club, and if he couldn’t convince him then it was his fate to be stuck here.

He was equally close to Heechul too, but his pregnancy had turned him into a hormonal mess and the last thing he wanted was for his plea to be blown out of proportion.

Heechul had a flair for drama, unfortunately.

Jaejoong being his first cousin shared the same trait but it was less on the crazy side. _Until he gets pregnant too_, Baekhyun said to himself in afterthought and suppressed the thought of a hormonal Jaejoong from his mind by shuddering.

“All right Hyung, I understand.” Baekhyun decided to comply, having given up on convincing him.

“Good,” Jaejoong smiled as he ruffled his hair affectionately before saying, “I am here if you need anything, ok?”

Baekhyun suddenly got an idea, “Hyung, do you perhaps have access to some drinks?”

Jaejoong raised an eyebrow at the sudden question, “You are asking me?” he laughed loudly. It was a well-known fact that Jaejoong was the best drinker amongst the ’86 club, followed by Chanyeol’s older brother.

“I could give you the key to our cellar downstairs,” Jaejoong winked as he handed the said key. “I know what you are going through now is tough. A few drinks will help with that. Just don’t drink too much ok? I don’t want to get in trouble with your father.”

Baekhyun smiled in thanks, he knew Jaejoong had been the right person to talk to.

~*~

Chanyeol was crying with laughter as he thwacked Jongdae’s shoulder, ignoring the disappointed look he was getting from the latter’s older brother, Kim Joonmyeon.

“It wasn’t that funny,” Junmyeon spoke regarding the lame joke his younger brother had just made. “I can think of much better jokes.”

Sehun huffed and shook his head, “No, no, none of those grandpa puns. Please, I beg of you!”

“You have gotten a lot ruder than the last time I met you, Sehun-ah,” Joonmyeon glared at the young brat who merely smirked in response.

“Hyung, you came back from America after five years, what do you expect? Sehun to still be the cute boy who used to cling to you like a baby?” Jongin replied, taking the opportunity to tease his best friend.

“Hey! Since when did I cling to Joonmyeon Hyung?!” Sehun retaliated loudly.

Joonmyeon laughed as he remembered how innocent and childlike the youngest Park had been a few years ago.

“That I know, very well. I remember when I had to leave for America, he had begged me to take him with me, even insisting that he could fit in my suitcase.”

Sehun waved his hands in defiance to the words that were being said, Jongin and Taemin’s hyena-like laughter echoed in Chanyeol’s assigned bedroom.

“We are glad to have you back,” Chanyeol said honestly. “When is your flight back to the States?”

“In two days,” Joonmyeon sighed loudly. “I had come to celebrate your brother’s wedding and yet here we are all cooped up.”

“At least, you are able to leave this prison. We are dying to think of things to do here,” Sehun pouted.

“You know that you could tag along with your father whenever he goes to the office. We have adequate security to keep our companies running, just not enough for us to be out and about freely.” Jongdae suggested.

Sehun frowned, “Oh, please! Not you too! I am tired of hearing this solution, I would rather stay at this estate doing nothing at all.”

“Suit yourself, then,” Chanyeol sprouted, knowing his younger brother well enough to know that he only liked to whine and complain but would only do what he wanted to do at the end.

Chanyeol did go with his father and older brother, Yoochun, whenever he could but they had told him that they preferred for him to stay at the estate.

Twice a week a hefty amount of private security was arranged by the Jungs to take all the businessmen to their nearest offices. Their headquarters in Seoul were too far, and going two days a week to the nearest branch of their companies was sufficient to keep their empires running.

His older brother and his friends were arranging a business meeting in Japan, they wanted to see if it would be safer for all of them to reside there as they all had Japanese residence under their names.

Chanyeol was brought out of his stupor when he heard a loud yell, courtesy of Jongdae, of “Oi, Byun!”

The Park Heir turned around to see just in time Baekhyun walking past his open bedroom door. His eyebrows furrowed, the East wing was only for the Parks, Chois and the Lees.

The Byuns were residing in the West Wing with the Jungs and the Kims.

_Who had he come to see?_ Chanyeol thought as Jongdae beside him was whining about the ‘rude Byun always ignoring him’.

Before anyone could say anything else Chanyeol found himself standing up and following Baekhyun, ignoring the exclamations from his friends about where he was going.

He saw the smaller male near the end of the corridor and proceeded to run after him. Chanyeol caught Baekhyun’s arm just as they neared the large staircase that leads down to the ground floor of the estate.

Baekhyun jumped in shock and turned to face him, his face grimacing in pain and shock. Startled by the fact that he had somehow hurt the Byun Heir with such a light grip, Chanyeol quickly lets go of his arm, eyes wide as he surveys the pain-stricken male before him.

“What were you doing in _our_ wing?” Were the words that came out of his lips, suppressing the questions that rose inside his mind about the deteriorating state of the young man.

He doesn’t care for Baekhyun’s well-being. As long as it doesn’t affect his family and friends, he doesn’t give a damn about the Byuns.

But it was hard to suppress his curiosity. Baekhyun was hardly seen in the past few days, and even if he was, he kept to himself. Which was very weird to Chanyeol, because he had always seen Baekhyun as a social butterfly let it be in school or at social events.

“None of your business, Park.” Baekhyun hissed out, still grimacing. His wounds were throbbing from the harsh twist his injured back had to endure thanks to the idiotic Park who can’t keep his hands to himself.

“Did you come to see the Lees?” Chanyeol ignored the rude remark. 

“Why do you care, huh?” Baekhyun shot back, glaring at Chanyeol. “I have no obligation to tell you. So leave me _alone_.”

Chanyeol still felt something gnawing at his chest. Feeling as if something was being hidden from him, so his arm shot forward again to grasp onto Baekhyun’s wrist.

“Wait!” He ignored the latter’s eye-rolling at him in annoyance. “You aren’t telling me something.”

Baekhyun pulled his wrist away from Chanyeol’s grip, folding his arms against his chest and looked at him with fake understanding, “Of course, I am not. Do you want me to share everything as if we were best friends?”

Chanyeol frowned at that. He himself didn’t know why he was suddenly so curious about Baekhyun. Just because the latter wasn’t behaving the way he normally did and was suddenly seen on the East wing, shouldn’t be a valid reason for him feeling so unsettled.

“Fine.” Chanyeol gave up, suppressing the urge to carry on with his questions. “I just hope you consider yourself a part of us, don’t go off doing things that will endanger us all. Jung Yunho said we have to be one.”

Baekhyun scoffed loudly, rolling his eyes again before saying, “Oh, please. I have had enough of this ‘_we are one_’ bullshit. We all know who are the leaders amongst us and who are the victims.”

Chanyeol tilted his head in confusion, allowing Baekhyun to continue, “Never in a million years will I ever work with you, Park. I may seem weak and fragile right now, but us, Byuns, don’t need your family’s assistance. So kindly shove this helping hand of yours, up your arse.”

And with that the sassy male twirled around and stormed off, Chanyeol hypnotised by the movement of hips swaying before he had a clearing of a throat.

“Wow, so much savageness! You must love getting burned. Who told you to go and aggravate him?” Jongdae popped up beside him with a teasing smirk.  
Chanyeol simply sighed in response, surprisingly not feeling so bothered by his pride being slaughtered like that in front of him.

“Enough of the brooding, let’s go get some more drinks,” Jongdae dragged him downstairs.

~*~

Baekhyun had gone through the fifth bottle of soju when his bedroom door was banged open by Mr.Byun.

“Baekhyun, what the hell is this?” Mr. Byun fumed towards Baekhyun who had been sitting on the floor on a rug with soju bottles scattered all around him. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think I am doing, Father?” Baekhyun asked with a lopsided smirk, it was plainly obvious that the Heir of Byun corps was completely drunk.

“Watch your tone, young boy,” Mr. Byun grabbed Baekhyun by his shoulders from the floor, forcing him to stand and meet his father’s gaze.

Seeing Baekhyun staggering around to maintain his balance, Mr. Byun spat out, “Never knew I had a pathetic drunkard as my son.”

“You don’t know many things about me, Father,” Baekhyun said in a sardonic tone.

“Shut your mouth before I cut your tongue off, boy. Where are all the manners that were taught to you?” Mr. Byun pushed Baekhyun away in disgust; making him nearly fall if it hadn’t been for the tall bedpost he took hold off to maintain his balance.

Baekhyun started to shout at his father for all he has been through. He has had enough.

“You shut up!!! You are always criticizing everything I do! I am your only child yet have you ever shown love to me?” Baekhyun cried. “But no, you just put me down in every possible way. Well, you know what, Father? I don’t want to take part in your shitty business. You and the prestigious Byun Empire could go to hell for all I care-“ Baekhyun was slapped harshly in response to his outburst.

But he carried on to shout, “Beat me up all you want, I don’t want to be your son anymore. You don’t intimidate me,” Baekhyun confidently glared back at Mr. Byun who was now trembling with anger.

“Boy, you will regret opening your mouth once I am done with you,” Mr. Byun had an advantage over the drunk Baekhyun. Because of this Baekhyun wasn’t able to save himself from Mr. Byun’s punches and kicks that rained upon him relentlessly.

He whimpered as he fell onto the wooden floor, his brain buzzing with all the alcohol and aggressive violence that his father was unleashing upon him.

Eventually, Baekhyun had passed out his entire body covered in cuts and bruises. Mr. Byun dragged his wife into her son’s room afterwards, she cried out as she ran to her unconscious beaten up son on the floor, “Oh my god, Baekhyunnie! Why did you do this?”

“Should have taught your son some manners,” Mr. Byun taunted, as he massaged his throbbing hands that had caused the majority of the injuries on Baekhyun’s body. “When he wakes up, tell him that he isn’t allowed to leave the room until he has healed completely. The last thing I want is somebody noticing,” Mrs. Byun sobbed as she softly patted her son’s head that she had moved on to her lap. She felt so guilty for not being able to do anything for her son.

“And food will only be ordered once he has apologised to me. Got it?” Mr. Byun asked with a look that said ‘_don’t you mess with me_’.

Mrs. Byun nodded as tears stained her cheeks.

~*~

Chanyeol noticed Baekhyun’s absence, in fact, everybody did. But nobody had the courage to ask Mr and Mrs. Byun anything, as the Byun family seemed really cut off since Taehyung’s death.

Baekhyun had finally asked for an apology from his father after the second day of his drink binge, having had only minimal food and water for the past couple of days he has lost a lot of weight.

One evening when everyone sees the weak Baekhyun for dinner, Jaejoong confronts him.

“Baekhyun, what the hell is going on?” Jaejoong rubbed Baekhyun’s arm. “Have you not been eating properly?”

“I haven’t been feeling hungry, Hyung,” Baekhyun replied. “But I will start eating properly now that’s why I came down myself today to get food.”

Jaejoong wasn’t convinced but didn’t want to push Baekhyun. “You know that I am here for you, right?”

Baekhyun nodded, “I know, Hyung. But I am really fine, I don’t need any help.”

Baekhyun sent a small smile before he left the kitchen; Jaejoong just hoped that the normally strong and sassy Baekhyun would return soon.

Chanyeol saw Baekhyun looking scrawnier than before when going downstairs as the said frail Byun climbed up the stairs slowly, nearly losing his balance if it hadn’t been for Chanyeol’s quick reflexes in stabilising him. Chanyeol didn’t think much of it. He didn’t want to be scolded by Baekhyun again for giving him a _helping hand_ and so he decided to keep to himself after making sure the Byun Heir had reached the second landing safely.

Chanyeol had been busy planning with the ’86 club to infiltrate the syndicate recently. His mind was quickly distracted by thoughts of avenging the syndicate and soon forgot about Baekhyun's abnormal behaviour.

Later on that week, Baekhyun decided to go downstairs to get some food one night, after having not come done for dinner with everyone earlier.

He hated the looks of pity that were cast his way whenever he was amongst the Elites. Instead, he preferred to eat by himself whenever he was hungry.

The clock had just struck 2 o’clock as he made his way towards the kitchen, he walked past the living room to see that the Parks, Jungs and his family were gathered.

They were discussing the vulnerable position of the Byun Empire. The Park family sat there quietly as Jung Yunho discussed the issue with Mr. Byun. Baekhyun decided to carry on sneaking towards the kitchen before he was caught for eavesdropping.

“Taking into account the very vulnerable and sensitive position of the Byuns, I think it is best for them to join the syndicate,” Changmin proposed.

“I don’t think the syndicate is very open to any new members in these circumstances, Changmin,” Yunho sipped on his tea.

Choi Siwon’s entry into the Syndicate had been rejected, causing unrest amongst the Elites.

“So what do you suggest, Mr. Jung?” Mr. Byun asked him to take a biscuit that was offered by Changmin.

“I have an idea…but I am not sure if it will sit well with you-“ Yunho was cut off by Mr. Byun’s enthusiasm “Of course not, I am open to anything that you suggest!”

“-And Mr. Park.” Yunho finished the sentence, sending a glance to Mr. Park who had suddenly stiffened hearing his name being mentioned and Mr. Byun’s jaw had dropped.

Baekhyun, who was trying not to laugh at his father’s pathetic behaviour in front of Jung Yunho, stopped walking to the kitchen to hear the conversation carefully, curious to hear the Jung CEO’s idea.

“Explain Mr. Jung,” Mr. Park said seriously, his wife soothing his stiff posture but he held a menacing glare.

Yunho, however, was undisturbed with the suddenly tense atmosphere and carried on to say, “I ask you to listen to me carefully. No interruptions please, what I am about to say is the best for both of your families.”

“Go on then,” Mr. Park said gruffly.

“I can say this from first-hand experience, the unification of both the Jung and Kim families was extremely beneficial financially wise as well as for public relations,” Yunho stood up to walk around the armchairs, circling the Park and Byun family as he explained nonchalantly.

“The syndicate now knows not to dare mess with the Kim family, despite not having any member of them being a fully-fledged member of the Syndicate. Although my partner is classified as a member, but not independently because he is _my_ husband, ”

“What are you trying to say?” Mrs. Park suddenly asked in a stone-cold voice, she seemed to have caught on to what the Jung Empire’s owner was saying. “You surely can’t be saying what I think you are…”

“You are very clever, Mrs. Park, so I am sure you know what I am suggesting. This is the best flawless plan that I can think of in this dire helpless moment,” Yunho finally stated.

Baekhyun stood still in shock. _Was Yunho suggesting the same arranged partnership that Yunho and Jaejoong had?_

“I don’t see anything wrong with it to be truly honest. You guys just need to solve the family feud that you have got going on. It can’t be too hard, the Kims and Jungs did it and they had been enemies since the Joseon period,” Changmin cut in. “A marital partnership between Chanyeol and Baekhyun is an excellent idea if you ask me.”

Baekhyun forced his legs to stay still, he wanted to walk into the living room and scream at them all. _Who were they to decide who I will marry? And it had to be that tall obnoxious brute?_

He hoped that his father would strongly retaliate but instead Baekhyun saw his father pondering on what had been said.

Was his father that desperate that he would lose his family pride to sell his son to their enemies?

_Of course, he would. He wishes that I had never existed, if he can get some money and power in exchange for his pathetic excuse of a son, of course, he would jump at the chance_, Baekhyun thought bitterly.

Mr.Park shouting, “I will not approve of this nonsense!!” interrupted Baekhyun’s unpleasant thoughts. “Why should we sacrifice our perfect successful son to a charity case like them?”

“Shut your mouth, you bastard! Our business has always been better than yours! We are not a charity case!” Mr. Byun cursed back.

“Gentlemen that’s enough,” Changmin stood up to stand alongside Yunho who had stopped walking still in shock at the aggressive confrontation that he had just seen between the two heads of families.

“I suggest you think about this carefully, Mr. Park,” Yunho’s calm voice spoke again after their respective wives had calmed down both their husbands. “Although it may seem like you are not gaining anything from this, I assure you that you won’t be suffering from any loss.”

“Any loss? There will be a loss of my respect and dignity! _My_ Chanyeol would never agree to this.” Mr. Park said bitterly.

“Neither would my son!” Mr. Byun retorted back, but said lowly to Mr. Jung, “However if it’s the best for all of us I don’t mind sacrificing my son.”

Mr. Park snorted, “_Sacrificing_ my ass, we are the ones that are forfeiting here!”

“I will talk to Chanyeol myself, I know that he is an intelligent young boy, he would realise that it would be a stupid mistake to not go through with this,” Changmin said.

“Exactly,” Mr. Byun added.

Hearing his father’s affirmation of the worst news that Baekhyun had heard for the second time this week had Baekhyun running upstairs and into his bedroom.

He then proceeded to lock himself in the bathroom. By the time he had made himself walk towards the sink he was retching out his stomach’s contents, not that there was much in there in the first place.

Baekhyun had spent the past few days like a living corpse. And what he had just witnessed was the final spark that ignited the self-consuming thought that had plagued his mind since Taehyung’s death.

_There is no point in living anymore_.

He had hoped that there would be a way to cope with the pain, something… anything from God that would help him. He had never been religious, but he had prayed a lot after losing Taehyung. Praying to God to bring his little brother back, or to at least relieve this insufferable pain.

Wiping his tear-stained cheeks, Baekhyun slowly made his way towards the large bathtub and spun the gold-plated knobs to start filling it up.

He had to act quickly as he knew that his parents would come back to check on him soon when they came upstairs to sleep.

As Baekhyun lowered himself into the nearly full bathtub, his chest heaved from the sobs that were let out. He never thought he would take an easy way out like this. He had spent all his life fighting but he had done it with Taehyung beside him.

And with the way his future was being entirely planned out by his father, he knew that it wouldn’t be getting any better for him.  
Baekhyun fully submerged himself under the water with one thought in mind.

_I am joining you Taehyung-ah...wait for me_.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: attempted suicide

Mrs. Byun decided to check up on Baekhyun after coming back from the late-night meeting held by Jung Yunho.

She was at unease seeing her husband’s easy approval regarding her son being married off to the Parks. She knew that Baekhyun would never agree to this arrangement. But there was nothing she could do to help; she herself had spent years under her husband’s control, too scared to fight against him and speak up for herself and her sons.

It was imperative that the Byun family’s friendly facade be maintained in front of the Elites and society. Even if it meant that her family was broken like shattered glass, the shards digging into them deeper with every fake smile they stretched across their lips.

She just hoped that her silent support for her son would be enough for them to pass through this particularly rough time. _It will get better for him_, she tried to convince herself as she walked towards Baekhyun’s bedroom.

The apprehensive woman opened the door of her son’s bedroom, surprised to see the bed messy and devoid of Baekhyun.

“Baekhyun?” She called out, her hands trembling from anxiety as she frantically looked around for her missing son.

Her husband will have her head if Baekhyun acted out of order again, and will surely punish the poor boy even more.

“Baekhyun, where are you?” She called out again, her voice breaking near the end, too afraid to speak loudly in case her husband heard her.

She came across the locked bathroom door. Dread pooled in her gut.

Mrs. Byun’s trembling fingers shook the doorknob as she pressed her knee against the closed door, trying to push it open.

All she heard was the noise of running taps, water flowing and splashing on the tiles.

“Baekhyun!” She called out louder this time; her gut feeling was telling her that something was wrong. Her son surely hadn’t gone mad to be taking a shower with multiple taps open, at 3 o’clock in the morning.

“BAEKHYUN!” Mrs. Byun let out an ugly sob before she started to shove her shoulder against the door. “ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW!”

No sound came from the young Byun.

Mrs. Byun fell to the floor, weeping loudly for help. “SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP!”

Jaejoong, who had heard the agonizing screams from the distraught mother, started running towards the screaming, calling for Yunho to come urgently on his phone.

Seeing Mrs. Byun so distraught and fearful, Jaejoong got an inkling of the situation at hand. Jaejoong ran towards Mrs. Byun, telling her to shove her shoulders against the door at the count of three.

After their third shove against the wooden door, they heard the door lock break and crack open. The mother didn’t waste any time running to her unconscious son in the bathtub, skidding against the wet tiles.

“Oh my god! Somebody, please save my son! He isn’t breathing!” Mrs. Byun’s screams echoed in the bathroom and out into the west wing where the Jungs, Kims and the Byuns resided.

Jaejoong was already beside the helpless mother when Yunho reached the bathroom, his eyes wide with shock at the scene in front of him.

Yunho helped his husband with picking up the wet Byun Heir and setting him in the right position for CPR.

Both Jaejoong and Yunho noticed Baekhyun’s disturbing thin stature. _How weak was this boy, had he not been eating properly?_ Jaejoong thought internally, mad at himself for not intervening Baekhyun’s self-destroying behaviour at an earlier stage.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

There had been enough signs for Jaejoong, but he had ignored them and trusted the Byun heir too carelessly. Baekhyun was clearly nowhere near the strong boy he had once been.

It was after the fifth attempt of Jaejoong giving resuscitation did Baekhyun finally cough out the water inside him, wheezing as he tried to gasp for breath.

“Let’s move him to the bed, the doctor should be on his way,” Jaejoong said as Yunho picked up Baekhyun with Mrs. Byun tailing beside him, whispering soothing words into the ears of her trembling son.

Jaejoong’s heart ached to see Baekhyun like this. “Why would you do this to yourself, Baek?” He murmured softly, but Baekhyun was still unconscious, his eyes shut as his mouth was wide open, breathing heavily after drowning.

After Jaejoong double-checked Baekhyun’s steady heartbeat, he left the bedroom with his husband in tow.

“Yunho, what the hell is happening?” Jaejoong spat out at his husband as soon as they were far away from the West Wing.

Before Yunho could speak, he saw Chanyeol and Yoochun come running towards them from the East wing.

The East Wing inhabitants, including the Park family, had also heard the terror-filled screams of Mrs. Byun.

“We heard the commotion, is everything alright?” Yoochun asked Yunho, his parents had told him about what had happened as they had made their way upstairs after the meeting.

“He is breathing now,” Yunho replied, still unsure of what to say about Baekhyun’s current state. “Yoochun-ah, can you please call the best doctor to be here asap?”

“Sure,” Yoochun nodded. “I will go and give him a call.”

Chanyeol didn’t follow his brother though, still standing to see Jaejoong glaring holes into Yunho’s head.

He was too intrigued to just step back. “Jaejoong Hyung, did Baekhyun try to commit-“

Chanyeol’s question was cut off by Jaejoong’s stern question aimed at Yunho, who seemed to be avoiding his husband’s gaze by looking at Chanyeol.

“Do you have any idea what could have triggered this?” Jaejoong asked Yunho urgently, knowing fully well that his husband was somehow involved in all of this.

“What makes you think I would know?” Yunho asked, genuinely confused as to what Jaejoong was getting at.

Yunho couldn’t help but feel nervous under the deadly glare of his husband.

Chanyeol couldn’t help but find the sight intriguing. _Who knew Jung Yunho was this meek?_

Huffing and rolling his eyes Jaejoong elaborated, “You were awake downstairs with the Byuns and Parks, at freaking 2 am, Yunho.”

“Yeah, but Baekhyun wasn’t there…he was sleeping-“ Yunho cut himself mid-sentence when he suddenly realised what could have happened. “Oh shit, he must have heard our conversation!” Yunho cursed loudly, suddenly feeling furious that he was in some way responsible for all of this.

“Wait...what? What conversation are you talking about?” Chanyeol asked, looking between Jaejoong and Yunho with his sleep-filled eyes suddenly wide open.

Chanyeol’s brother hadn’t said anything to him after the hushed conversation he had with their parents. He knew they were hiding something from him, hence he decided to tag along with Yoochun and see for himself what was going on.

Jaejoong prodded Yunho with his eyes to explain since he himself had no idea what Yunho had been discussing this late at night.

“We…we were talking about the arrangement between the Byuns and Parks,” Yunho explained forcefully. He didn’t want Chanyeol to find out about the arranged marriage like this, but his husband’s glares were forcing him to continue.

“What kind of arrangement between the Parks and the Byuns?” Chanyeol asked, smiling humorously as if he heard a joke. “We have never had a business deal since I have been born, Hyung.”

“It’s not a business deal…” Yunho corrected and then sighed, pressing his fingers to press against his closed eyelids. “Jaejoong, please don’t make me do this right now…”

“I am not making you do anything, Yunho,” Jaejoong said innocently as he stepped closer to Yunho and grasped onto his arm tightly. “Just know that whatever went on tonight downstairs had a direct impact on Baekhyun’s state right now.”

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows, “Surely Baekhyun being suicidal isn’t just from one cause? It’s a long-term process, and-“

“Exactly, but tonight was a trigger.” Jaejoong cut in, his eyes watering as he went to say, “Baekhyun is a strong fighter, I know he isn’t someone to throw his life away just like that.”

“Yunho Hyung, what were you talking about?” Chanyeol was beyond curious to know what had happened. He knew asking his parents would be useless; Yunho was his best bet, as the latter never kept anything from him.

Sighing gravely, Yunho finally managed to utter, “We were talking about getting you married to Baekhyun, Chanyeol. Just like me and Jaejoong had 2 years ago.”  
Chanyeol’s jaw dropped as he looked at Jaejoong who suddenly let go of his grip on Yunho’s arm and stepped back in shock.

“What?” Both Jaejoong and Chanyeol shouted at the meek Jung CEO.

Yunho rubbed his forehead, staring at the ground. “I can explain, it is a perfect flaw-free plan. It’s for the best of everyone-”

“Yeah, I can see how flaw-free it is as seen by tonight’s events,” Jaejoong snapped. “It's over, whatever agreement you made is now off.”

Chanyeol was still in shock. _Me getting married to Baekhyun? Was this a fucking joke?___

_ __ _

_ __ _

“This must surely be a joke,” Chanyeol chuckled although his eyes were sending daggers at Yunho. “My parents surely couldn’t agree with this _shitty_ plan.”

“Well…they were a bit worried at first,” Chanyeol raised his eyebrows at Yunho watering down his parents’ reaction regarding this arrangement. Chanyeol knew his father too well to have simply been just _worried_. “But after both Changmin and I explained everything to them they said that they would think about it.”

“Fuck that, I'm not going through with it!” Chanyeol spat furiously, anger filled his mind making him forget his manners in front of his elders.

“Neither is Baekhyun, seeing as how he is lying unconscious on his bed,” Jaejoong spoke for Baekhyun, knowing full well how the young boy must be feeling. He looked at his husband, hoping to knock some sense into his husband. “Yunho, we should have discussed this with Chanyeol and Baekhyun first.”

“Our parents didn’t talk to us,” Yunho retorted back. “And look how well it turned out, our businesses are stronger than ever, we both ended up falling in love. Everyone’s happy.”

“The situation isn’t the same, Yunho,” Jaejoong stressed. “Baekhyun’s going through a lot right now. And I admit that I hated you a lot back then too, but I think there is more hatred between these two boys than we ever had, Yunho.”

“I agree with that,” Chanyeol added. “I could never imagine me and Baekhyun being like you two. No offence, but this was a pretty shit plan, Hyung.”

Yunho knew he had messed up. He should have executed this plan a bit more carefully. But time was running out. They had to do something before the Syndicate tried to attack them again.

Nibbling on his lips, Yunho finally said, “Look, I don’t know how quickly the arrangement will be put off…because Mr. Byun was 100% committed to it. I have given him my word.”

After hearing the last sentence, Jaejoong frowned. Knowing full well that Yunho didn’t like going back on his words, and so they were in a tough situation now. “How about we all think carefully about another solution, alright?”

Chanyeol nodded, “I am sure there is a better resolution than me being married off to Baekhyun.”

“Who even came up with that idea?” Chanyeol muttered under his breath after, still finding it difficult to comprehend this arranged marriage.

“Changmin and I,” Yunho spoke slowly.

Jaejoong shook his head, “Ok, for now, we will focus on making sure that Baekhyun is well. His wellbeing is our number one priority.”

Seeing Chanyeol roll his eyes at the statement, Jaejoong sent him a glare in response and said seriously, “Even yours, Chanyeol. I know you two aren’t on the best of terms. But you are connected to him in one way or another. Just make sure he is alright for me, okay?”

Chanyeol nodded forcefully before saying, “I will be off to sleep then. Good night.”

“Good night,” Both Yunho and Jaejoong said as they watched the young Park Heir make his way back towards his bedroom in the East Wing of the Manor.  
Jaejoong spoke once Chanyeol’s figure could not be seen anymore, “I am so worried and angry with myself, Yunho.”

“I feel exactly the same…for the first time in my life, I am admitting that I made a wrong decision,” Yunho sighs, as he reads Yoochun’s text that was just received. 

“The doctor is here, let’s go to receive him now.”

***

As per the Doctor’s orders, Baekhyun was put on an I.V drip to help with his recovery. The Byun heir was very weak and would take time to recover.

Hence both Yunho and Changmin made sure to not talk about the arrangement they had made that night, despite Mr. Byun bringing it up every time they ran into each other.

Changmin for the past few days had been trying to get more information regarding Syndicate’s future steps, and whether the Elites would be targeted again.

The contacts he had were few in number, but the majority held enough power to be able to give him the information he needed.

Two weeks after that late-night meeting with the Park and Byun Family, Changmin woke up to a text alert on his phone.

Brushing the sleep away from his eyes with his hands, he managed to read the text.

Changmin’s eyes widened, as he felt his blood freezing in his veins from the sudden shock.

“Oh my god!” Changmin scrambled out of his bed, haphazardly wearing his slippers before running to his older brother’s room still in his pyjamas.

"Yunho! I just got a message that _they_ are on their way here!" Changmin came hurtling into Yunho and Jaejoong's bedroom, shouting. "We need to leave, FAST!"

Luckily for Changmin, Jaejoong had been in the joint bathroom and not anywhere near Yunho.

The young man had seen enough mentally scarring sights for a lifetime.

Because it was now a known fact that whenever Yunho and Jaejoong were together, it was impossible for them to not be in contact.  
_But now was not the time to thank the Buddha,_ Changmin thought.

Yunho who had been reading on his bed slammed his book on the bedside table, before grabbing his phone to start alerting everyone.

"They came much sooner than I had thought,” Yunho swore out, before telling Changmin. “Notify everyone, Park Chanyeol and Sehun can take care of the East Wing and I will take care of the West. You make sure everyone is packing quickly."

Jaejoong had come out of the bathroom, freshly showered just as Yunho ended his sentence.

"Everyone has their own cars, so we won't need to wait for people. Just get your necessary stuff and leave, don't leave anything that can later be identified," Jaejoong added, making sure to record his order and send it as a voice clip to the group chat that the Elites had.

"See you later, Changmin-ah. Take care," Yunho walked towards his adopted brother, clapping his hand on Changmin’s shoulder before running out of the room to alert their parents.

Changmin himself ran down the corridors opening every door on his way. He hoped that all of them could make it out of here on time. Some of the families had already started packing, such as the Jung sisters. Which was expected since they were always attached to their phones the majority of the time.

However, Jung Jessica seemed to be crying in distress as she realised that she couldn't pack all of her wardrobes in such a short period of time.

Rolling his eyes, he entered the Jung sisters’ bedroom and got another empty suitcase to start helping her, "Don't cry, Sica. It’s fine if you can't bring everything with you. I will help you for a few minutes and after that, you are leaving okay?"

Jessica nodded whilst wiping her wet cheeks.

Krystal tried not to slow down her packing as she was caught off guard by the affectionate act shown by Changmin. _Who knew he even had a soft spot and especially for Unnie?_ She thought as she tried to keep her snort in and resumed packing her necessities swiftly.

***

Meanwhile, in the East Wing Sehun had started packing.

If it hadn’t been for Yunho their evacuation plan may have taken a lot longer to be executed. Sehun was glad to see everyone evacuating efficiently, he could already hear doors slamming and panicked voices echoing in the main corridor of the East Wing.

After packing all of his belongings, Sehun ran to his parent's bedroom and helped them with the packing. He hadn’t bothered to check if his siblings or friends had also started to pack yet or not.

Knowing them, they were probably already ahead of him and leading everyone instead.

Yoochun came skidding into their parent’s bedroom just then, "Sehun-ah, help Chanyeol with making sure that the East Wing is entirely empty. I will take mother and father in my own car, and you can join us within the next five minutes, if not then just go with Chanyeol. See you, bro~"

And then ran off with his fiancée, Kwon Boa, who followed behind him before stopping to ruffle his hair affectionately and telling him to be quick.

Just as Sehun closed the door to his parent's empty abandoned room, dragging the remaining suitcases that had been left with him, Chanyeol came sprinting to him and said, "The Kims have packed and gone and so have the Lees and the Chois."

"That’s good, just check all the doors once again, Hyung. In case there is someone who is still busy packing. And I will take the rest of our luggage to your car and wait for you there."

"Alright, see you," Chanyeol patted his hand on Sehun's shoulder, and resumed his run to check each door.

The only person who had gotten a bit too carried away with the packing was to no surprise, Kim Heechul. But Choi Siwon was already dealing with him by the time Chanyeol had arrived.

"Heechul, stop it. We have to leave now. I promise I will buy you everything again," Siwon was trying to persuade his stubborn husband, but of course, Heechul was too busy trying to shove as much of his belongings inside a bulging suitcase as possible.

"No Siwon! You can't buy everything with your money!" Heechul screamed as he grabbed a maroon cashmere sweater. "Look at this! You gave this to me on our third month Anniversary! Do you think you will be able to buy something with the same significance again? No, you won’t!"

Chanyeol gulped seeing this ferocious side of Heechul and it was honestly a frightening sight to see so close.

He silently prayed for Siwon as he left the room and nearly ran into Lee Taemin who had been coming out from the opposite room.

"All ready, Taemin-ah?" Chanyeol asked, "Here let me help you, I am going down to the parking lot too," he held one of Taemin's large suitcases.

"Thanks, Hyung. Has everyone left?" He asked, whilst both of them descended down the grand staircase of the Jung Manor. The Elites had really thought that they had found their safe haven but yet again the Syndicate had discovered their whereabouts.

"Aside from Siwon and Heechul, I think everyone has left," Chanyeol said. He could hear Siwon and Heechul's footsteps behind them as he spoke and let out a sigh of relief.

They had done it.

They had evacuated in time, he cheered in his mind and couldn’t help but smile for the first time since the evacuation had started.

Chanyeol ran to Jongin's car, where the latter stood waiting with his car’s boot open. Jongin took the luggage from him, "Hyung, are you leaving with us or is there still somebody inside to check on?"

"No, there is no one. Me and Sehun will be right behind you," Chanyeol said, as he gave a quick hug to Taemin and Jongin.

These kids were like his younger brothers.

Chanyeol felt like they were far too young to be going through such an event. Even at the age of twenty-one, he felt like this was too much for him.  
_When was the last time I had a peaceful sleep?_

His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing, and seeing Jung Yunho's name had him attending the call within a second, "Yes, Hyung?"

"Chanyeol, the Byuns have left but said that their son isn't with them. I have written on the group chat, and nobody has seen him," Yunho spoke fast without pausing; worry clearly being heard in his voice.

Which was understandable, considering the fact that Byun Baekhyun was the lone heir of the Byun Empire and had been the prime target for the previous two attacks made by the syndicate.

Baekhyun was too much of a big influence and considering the recent events, it wasn’t abnormal to see Jung Yunho worrying about his whereabouts.

"Are you sure he hasn't already left in his car?" Chanyeol asked.

He was hoping that Yunho wouldn't ask him to look for him in the manor. The Byun's had resided in the West Wing with the Jungs, Kims and the Kwons.

"No Chanyeol, Baekhyun didn't bring his own car here. Jaejoong here has been ringing his phone constantly but it keeps going to his answering machine. And he hasn't been reading any of our texts after our notice for the evacuation. Something is wrong Chanyeol, go and check his room," Yunho ordered and without hearing Chanyeol's reply he hung up.

Chanyeol shouted, "SHIT!" and ran his hands through his black hair in exasperation.

He turned around to see that Siwon and Heechul had just left the car park, dust clouds trailing behind the black Jaguar.

_Great! Now I can’t even ask Siwon Hyung for help either,_ Chanyeol groaned.

He wondered why Yunho had rung him and not the Choi couple but it was most probably because Yunho knew that Siwon already had enough to deal with. Siwon’s moody pregnant husband is a big enough task to handle, as he had seen from his very own eyes.

"Is everything alright, Hyung?" Sehun asked with a worried expression.

"No Sehun-ah, that Byun kid has gone MIA since the evacuation started. He is still probably in there. Sehun, I want you to go with Taemin and Jongin. Stay safe ok?" Chanyeol said, ruffling his baby brother's hair, ignoring the "_Stop it, Hyung! Why does everyone do this to me_" and made a run for the manor, missing Sehun's worried glance after he had finished whining and his soft,

"Be safe too, Hyung."

***

Chanyeol hadn't turned back to see if the three musketeers had left, but he had heard the engine and the gravel crunching beneath the tyres to know that the boys had started their journey.

The tall young man climbed the stairs three steps at a time. He didn’t want the Byun Heir to be the reason for them to be caught by the Syndicate.

It had been an hour since everyone had been notified about the evacuation. _The Syndicate would be here in any minute,_ Chanyeol fretted.

"BAEKHYUN!" He shouted out as he ran down the West Wing, banging all the doors open on the way and checking inside for the familiar black haired male.

Chanyeol had never been on this side of the manor before and had no idea where the Byuns had resided.

"Where the hell are you?" He shouted again, his deep voice booming in the vast corridor. He halted to a stop in front of a locked door near the end of the corridor and had a feeling that this was Baekhyun's room.

"Open up, Baekhyun!" He banged his fists on the door but heard no response.

Whilst cursing loudly, he walked back a bit and then ran into the door with his shoulder hitting the wood. He kept doing it until he broke the lock, ignoring the  
tingles of pain that radiated from his bruised shoulders.

"Seriously, Baekhyun! What the fuck-" Chanyeol started to curse again when he was greeted by Baekhyun’s form all curled up on his bed and there was no sight of packing.

His heart dropped.

_We are fucked._

_We are SO fucked._

"Are you fucking crazy, Byun?" He roared as he stomped towards Baekhyun and grabbed him by the shoulders to lift him up slightly.

Chanyeol shook the lethargic male hard so that he would look at him. "Get your big ass off the bed right now, Baek. You are going to get both of us killed!"

He noticed Baekhyun's puffed-up eyes and his pink nose. All signs visibly showing that the Byun Heir had been crying.

But Chanyeol had never given a damn about him and now isn't the time for him to start caring either.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened when he finally caught his bearings. The sleeping pills he had taken before had completely knocked him out. _But why on earth is Chanyeol in my room?_ Baekhyun was confused and started to feel angry with how Chanyeol was manhandling him right now.

"Go away! I didn't ask you to come here!" Baekhyun screamed in response, his raw voice due to long periods of crying before, broke near the end of his sentence. "Just go! Let me die here, just go!" He said, trying to break away from Chanyeol's stronghold.

From the words that Chanyeol had shouted at him, he knew the Syndicate were on their way and it seems like he had been left behind by his family.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but laugh sardonically, earning a confused look from the Park Heir. If the Byuns didn’t deem their son precious enough, then why should Baekhyun value his life?

“Just leave me…please…” Baekhyun croaked out, his eyes tearing up as he fought the toxic thoughts that were consuming his mind.

But Chanyeol wasn’t the one to give up.

Jung Yunho had trusted him to protect Byun Baekhyun and that’s what he will do.

Chanyeol brought Baekhyun closer to him, so close that his nose was almost touching Baekhyun’s.

"They won't kill you without getting something from you, Byun. They will try to take as much from you as they can, you will wish that you had never been caught. You being weak like _this_, is putting everyone in danger. At least think about the others," Chanyeol tried to explain calmly so that something could get into the thick skull of Baekhyun, but the hint of anger was remaining in his voice.

He couldn't believe Baekhyun could be this selfish.

After getting no response from Baekhyun, he released his tight hold on his upper arms, letting him drop back on the bed and walked towards the wardrobe to open it and start packing.

He couldn't risk leaving any of Baekhyun's possessions behind. This could cause them a big loss in the future and the last thing he wanted was to act lazy and selfish just like the reckless Byun heir was doing right now.

After ten minutes of frenzied packing, he turned around to see Baekhyun having resumed the curled up position he had been in before, his t-shirt clad slim back facing him.

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and threatened, "Byun, get the fuck up before I physically drag you outside by your hair."

After getting no response, he deposited the suitcases near the door and walked towards the smaller male and turned him over harshly so that he could meet his gaze again.

But instead, he found the Byun Heir unconscious.

"Oh, fucking hell!" He cursed. Just great, now he didn't just have the luggage to carry but the prince himself too.

"Oi, wake up Byun!" he said, lightly slapping his cheeks.

But the weak man seemed to be completely out of it.

Swearing under his breath again, he grabbed the suitcases and ran for his car.

Chanyeol will have to go up again to get him, as he can’t carry both the Heir and his luggage at the same time.

After depositing the luggage in his car boot, he ran up to Baekhyun's room again.

His muscles screamed at him for the past continuous hour of strenuous activity. The initial adrenaline rush he had gotten back when the evacuation had started was now slowly starting to run out.

But he didn't give up. Jung Yunho trusted him to get the job done and so he will.

He had to keep everyone safe, and leaving Baekhyun alone would cause all of their hard work to be in vain.

Once he had eventually reached the bedroom he found that Baekhyun had gained consciousness and was sobbing quietly.

He took some deep breaths in between his laboured breathing so that he could say, "Come on Byun, let's just get out of here."

Seeing no reaction again, he walked up to him and grabbed his hand. "Please, Baek…if not for yourself, at least do this for all of us."

He wasn't expecting Baekhyun to show any response but the young male let out a broken sigh before wiping his tears with a trembling hand.

He slowly moved to get off the bed. But his legs failed him as soon he tried to stand. Luckily, Chanyeol caught him in time before he fell, his grip strong on the slim waist.

"Shit Byun, what's wrong with you? Are you sick?" Chanyeol couldn't help but ask. He had never seen the Byun heir this weak and fragile.

Byun Baekhyun was known for having a muscular physique in high school. Chanyeol had seen the Byun Heir flaunting it occasionally during sports events and he knew that despite the short stature, Baekhyun was indeed quite strong.

But it seemed the vulnerable young man in front of him wasn’t the same Baekhyun he had known for the majority of his life.

It was peculiar to think that there was so much that he still didn't know about Baekhyun, despite them living under the same roof for the past few weeks.  
He tried to loop his arm around Baekhyun's narrow waist so that he could give him support, but Baekhyun struggled.

"Just let me help you, Baekhyun."

Chanyeol shocked himself when he had called Baekhyun by his name. He hoped that the latter didn’t notice his slip of the tongue and started to make their way down the hallway.

When they were halfway down the West Wing of the Manor, Chanyeol’s phone suddenly rang.

Baekhyun jumped from the shrill noise and Chanyeol quickly attended it single-handedly without checking for the number.

Before he could answer with a hello, he heard Yunho shouting, "CHANYEOL, GET OUT OF THERE! THERE IS A BOMB INSIDE THE MANOR! PLEASE TELL ME YOU AND BAEKHYUN HAVE MADE IT OUT OF THERE!"

Chanyeol's blood froze, Baekhyun had heard Yunho's voice clearly as he had been leaning fully against Chanyeol, his head resting against the taller male’s clavicle.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened in fear and before he could say anything, Chanyeol pocketed his phone in his back pocket and abruptly picked him up in a bridal style and started to make a run towards the exit.

The adrenaline that Chanyeol thought he had lost had suddenly shot up again.

He carried Baekhyun like he was a feather. _He might as well have been with how weak he looked right now_, Chanyeol thought absentmindedly and sprinted as fast as his long legs could carry them.

We can make it.

We _have_ to make it.

"C-chanyeol, I will slow you down. R-run ahead and I will be right b-behind you," Baekhyun tried to say whilst he was being jostled in Chanyeol's arms.

He knew that Chanyeol carrying him like this was only slowing them both down.

"You can’t even walk right now. So just kindly shut the fuck up, Byun," Chanyeol managed to say in between his laboured breaths.

Not wanting to cause Chanyeol any more trouble, Baekhyun decided to remain quiet and grabbed onto Chanyeol for his dear life, closing his eyes tightly, fighting the wave of nausea that was building up from the fear and the constant jolting.

Baekhyun could clearly hear Chanyeol's frantic heartbeat and laboured breathing. His body bouncing in Chanyeol’s arms with every step the latter took down the grand staircase.

Inside, Baekhyun was starting to hope that they could make it. Despite him having lost his will to live, he didn't want Chanyeol to die alongside him.

He was slowing Chanyeol down.

He knew that Chanyeol had every reason to live; a loving family, friends and a huge empire ready for him to take care of.

Not forgetting how much of a valuable asset he was to Jung Yunho.

The last thought had Baekhyun suppressing another panic attack. He had let everyone down once again.

The Elites that bothered to think of his safety were the ones that would suffer from a loss.

_Stupid, stupid,_ Baekhyun berated himself.

Feeling the cold air ruffle his hair, Baekhyun was brought out of his inner despair and opened his eyes to see that they had made it into the parking lot.

Chanyeol let him down as they made it to his black Jeep and grabbed the passenger door to let it open.

Chanyeol then proceeded to help him into the passenger seat, by lifting him up when he was stopped by the raven-haired male.

"It's fine, Chanyeol, I can do it myself-" Baekhyun started to say when suddenly he heard a loud explosion that had him covering his ears with his palms and closing his eyes.

He managed to scream for Chanyeol, his ears ringing as he felt the car and the ground shaking from the big bang, before losing consciousness.

***

Kim Jongin drove along the long stretch of road, his heart beating fast against his ribcage.

They had all been notified about the bomb via the group chat but neither Chanyeol nor Baekhyun had replied. Sehun was sitting in the backseat biting his nails with worry.

"Don't worry, Hun-ah. I am sure they will make it out in time if not already on the road," Jongin tried to soothe his best friend.

"Yeah, Chanyeol Hyung is a tough guy, I am sure he handled whatever problem Byun Baekhyun had," Taemin added from the front passenger seat.

Sighing deeply, Sehun banged his head against the headrest and said, "I don't know, guys. We don't know what was up with Baekhyun Hyung and what if something went wrong?"

"Look, there are more chances of them killing each other than getting killed by a stupid bomb," Kai joked but after seeing Sehun's glare through the back mirror he cut off his laughter.

Taemin hit him in the shoulder and said to Sehun, "Ignore this idiot. Yunho Hyung trusted Chanyeol to take care of it. I am sure it was nothing serious. As far as I know, Baekhyun is a fashion diva, maybe he was too absorbed into his packing?"

"He is an idiot. I swear to god, if because of him something happens to my Hyung, I will-" Sehun started to say when he got interrupted by Jongin, "Do what Sehun-ah? Kill him? Both Baekhyun's and Chanyeol's fates have been tied now. If something happens to Baekhyun then the same will happen to your Hyung- OUCH!"

He got whacked by Taemin again, and decided to speak a bit more carefully, "I mean that they are both probably safe and sound on the road now, so no point in us discussing this."

"They better be," Sehun said as he sighed for the hundredth time since he had sat in the car.

He wished he had stayed with his older brother; not knowing how he is doing right now is killing him.

"What I don't get is...how the hell were they able to plant a bomb?" Taemin wondered out loud.

Jongin shrugged as he maintained his 90 mph speed on the highway.

It was then that they heard a faint boom in the background.

Jongin abruptly pressed his foot against the brake, trying to drone out Sehun's shouts that were filled with nothing but fear.

His heart clenched painfully.

__Taemin turned around to calm Sehun, who had now started to cry as he shouted Chanyeol’s name and was begging for them to "_stop the damn car and go back!"_

Jongin prayed to god that the two idiotic Hyungs had made it out.

Once the car had eventually stopped, Sehun flung open the car door and ran towards the direction that they had been coming from.  
Taemin unbuckled his seatbelt to run after him.

“Sehun, stop!” Both Taemin and Jongin run after their devastated friend, who had fallen onto his knees, weeping loudly as he stared ahead.

And right there in the distance, they saw the faint smoke rising into the sky.

Sehun's eyes started to water, "No, please God no…"

"Hun-ah, it’s fine, I am sure they had already left," Jongin said as he enveloped Sehun into a tight hug, trying to muffle his sobs with his shoulders so that his own heart wouldn't painfully constrict by hearing his friend in such pain.

Chanyeol was like a big brother to Jongin, he meant to him just as much as he meant to Sehun.  
But seeing Sehun so broken had him breaking inside too.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Taemin who was already on the phone, "Yeah, we stopped. We can see the smoke from here. Ok, stay safe," He said as he hung up.

And then he summarised the call to Jongin and Sehun as they looked at him with questioning gazes, "It was Yunho. He told us to keep driving and that he had notified Chanyeol in time."

"Were they still in the Manor? Did he talk to Chanyeol Hyung after the bomb went off?" Sehun asked Taemin frantically, his eyes desperate for some answers.

Taemin shook his head, "I don’t know, he just said that he had notified them on time and we shouldn't worry and carry on to our meeting point."

***

"CHANYEOL GET OUT! THERE IS A BOMB INSIDE THE MANOR! PLEASE TELL ME YOU AND BAEKHYUN HAVE MADE IT OUT OF THERE!" Yunho shouted to his hand free set, as Jaejoong sat there white as a ghost from fear.

They both heard Chanyeol's sudden harsh breathing in response and Baekhyun faintly saying, "C-chanyeol, I will slow you down. R-run ahead and I will be right b-behind you."

"You can’t even walk right now. So just kindly shut the fuck up, Byun," Chanyeol retaliated back and Jaejoong couldn't help but smile at the usual banter between the two arch-enemies, forgetting for a while about the dreadful situation they were all in.

It seemed like they were making a run for it, guessing by Chanyeol's fast breathing and were still in the manor.

Chanyeol hadn't hung up the phone and they could also hear some rustling, indicating that he had pocketed his phone in his jacket's pocket.

Yunho knew that Chanyeol had done this on purpose. At least this way they will be able to make sure that two young Heirs will make it out safely.

Jaejoong had stopped smiling the moment he had realised that Baekhyun and Chanyeol were still inside the Manor.

He looked at Yunho, his wide eyes conveying his feelings and before he could ask, Yunho grabbed his hand tightly, while the other steered the driving wheel and said, "Don't worry. They will make it, Jae.”

It was after a few minutes that they heard the car door being opened through the phone call.

Jaejoong let out a sigh of relief and turned to smile and Yunho nodded his head. "See, I told you that they will be on the road by the time it goes off."

In between the rustling noises, they managed to hear Baekhyun saying "It's fine, Chanyeol, I can do it myself-" when suddenly they heard a huge boom that had Jaejoong jumping and letting out a scream.

Yunho braked immediately, hearing both Baekhyun and Jaejoong's screams ringing in his ears.

It was as if they were right there with the young Heirs due to the hand-free being set on the loudest volume setting so that they were able to hear Chanyeol and Baekhyun clearly.

"NO! YUNHO, OH MY GOD!" Jaejoong cried out.

After having the car rolling to a stop, Yunho took off his seat belt hurriedly and enveloped his trembling husband into a tight embrace.

"Shh, baby." Yunho tried to soothe but his voice also broke. He knew that his fast thundering heartbeat gave away his feelings to Jaejoong who was crying even harder now against his chest.

Yunho knew that he would never forgive himself for not checking on Baekhyun himself, and then sending Chanyeol to get him.

Their call had been cut off and the last thing they had heard was Baekhyun screaming out for Chanyeol. They don't know if Baekhyun and Chanyeol have survived, and there is no way they can know, not at least until the Syndicate confirms it.

That thought had Yunho's blood boiling in anger. _How many lives will they take before this hidden war ends?_

Suddenly, he got a call from Taemin, he attended it after giving Jaejoong the look to quieten his sobs.

He heard Jongin trying to soothe Sehun's sobs in the background, as Taemin asked if he had any contact with Chanyeol.

Yunho didn't have the heart to say the truth. How could he tell Taemin the truth when the young teenager had recently suffered the loss of his own brother just a few weeks ago?

These three young boys needed hope, and so as the leader that's what he gave.

It wouldn't hurt to say a white lie for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to say hi to me on twitter! (Twitter - @baekingyeolk)


	6. Chapter 6

3 years ago

His parents had once again dragged Baekhyun to Park’s estate, he had tried every excuse to evade tonight’s event but his dad had been adamant about him attending. His cousin, Taehyung, was lucky as he was away on a school trip to Japan.

It was the third grand event the Park family had hosted this month; this time it was to celebrate 18-year-old Park Chanyeol’s graduation from high school and him getting accepted in a prestigious university in New York where he would pursue his MBA.

Baekhyun personally didn’t give two shits about what the soon to be Park heir did in his future endeavours, but he had to tail along with his parents yet again for the sake of their social status and business partnerships.

The blonde haired young Byun sipped on his wine, his eyes casually surveyed the people in the grand hall.

Since his high school graduation, Baekhyun had gotten an internship at his father’s company as well as the acceptance from a prestigious Korean university. His MBA course had yet to start, but his father was already drilling him with work that one would expect from a post-graduate.

Baekhyun was knackered, to say the least.

He only hoped to find a good lay tonight, someone who had the looks and the skills to send him to cloud nine.

As Baekhyun drank the wine he caught the eyes of the Wu Empire’s heir, Wu Yifan who also goes by the name of Kris. He was one of Chanyeol’s best friends hence Baekhyun never had gotten the chance to talk to him.

Kris looked at him and sent him a smirk as he raised his own glass as if to say cheers; Baekhyun responded by raising his glass as well, his eyes seductively checked the taller male out.

Baekhyun had to confess that Kris was extremely good-looking; he had also appeared in some famous spreads <strike>sometimes with the tall big-eared idiot</strike>. It’s a shame how many people Baekhyun had lost out on getting to know, no thanks to Park Chanyeol’s wide social circle.

Baekhyun always tried to get to know people who had no relations with the overgrown idiot but these days it was getting harder and harder since nearly everyone was in close relations with the over-friendly Park family.

Whilst Baekhyun was busy pondering over this dilemma he hadn't realised that Kris had now strolled up to him.

“Hello, gorgeous,” Baekhyun caught the low voice speaking in a perfect Canadian accent which he found extremely hot.

“Thank you,” Baekhyun replied but in Korean, he didn’t want to make a fool of himself with his poor English. He knew that he looked stunning tonight; he had paid extra attention to his eye makeup to further accentuate his eyes and so hoped that there would be less talk and more physical contact between them soon.

“I don’t think we have ever introduced ourselves to each other before,” Kris sipped on his own glass of wine. “That has to be it, as there is no way I would have ever forgotten such a beauty if we had.”

“Of course,” Baekhyun giggled, his kohl-rimmed eyes crinkling cutely making Kris adorn a dazed expression. “I am Byun Baekhyun by the way,” he reached out his dainty hand for the Wu heir who shook it eagerly, refusing to let go of his hand, the latter’s firm grip turned into a caressing hold.

_Oh, he had it so bad_, Baekhyun thought gleefully in his mind.

“Oh, I see,” Kris understood now why he never had the chance to meet this exquisite beauty. It was like a law of physics; you were either close to the Parks or the Byuns never to both. “I am Wu Yifan but you can call me Kris,” he winked smoothly, which sent a stronger blush on Baekhyun’s already slightly pink cheeks.

“I have heard a lot about you, Kris,” Baekhyun drawled sensually, his eyes staring deeply into the taller ’s probing gaze.

“I hope they were good things,” Kris laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “I have to admit you are the first from your family that I have talked to. I don’t know what you think of the Wu family.”

“Very good things, don’t you worry,” Baekhyun patted Kris’s arms nonchalantly but kept his hand there intentionally, slowly caressing the bulging biceps.

Meeting the Wu heir’s gaze again he continued on to say, “We think highly of the Wu’s, my father is really impressed with your flourishing business empire. He is actually thinking of making a deal with you soon.”

Kris raised his eyebrows, “Really? We would be delighted to engage in that.” He grabbed onto Baekhyun’s hand that had been resting on his arm. “Would you like to dance?”

“It would be a pleasure,” Baekhyun grinned, as he was led to the dance floor in the middle of the large hall right under the grand chandelier.

It didn’t take long for Baekhyun to realise that the Wu heir was horrible at dancing. But Baekhyun wasn’t in the mood for dancing anyways so he instead paid attention to Kris’s large hands that held his waist possessively and how his warm breath sent tingles down his spine as he whispered sweet compliments into his ears.

Once the song was over, Kris whispered, “Meet me in the blue room in ten minutes, it’s the fifth door on the right in the West Wing,” He pecked his ear discreetly, sending tingles down Baekhyun’s spine in anticipation of what’s to come.

Baekhyun knew exactly what that statement implied; he was getting some action tonight.

Finally.

“See you there,” Baekhyun whispered back on his tiptoes making sure to brush his lips against his ears seductively, he knew he had succeeded when he heard the Wu heir intake a sharp breath and stiffen.

Kris gave a final squeeze to his curvy waist and left him, probably to bid goodbye to everyone before going up to the blue room.

_Who the fuck names their rooms after colours? Talk about being creative_, Baekhyun criticized the Park family’s poor choice as he got himself another drink from the waiter walking past.

Meanwhile, on the far end of the hall, two teenagers were sat helping themselves to drinks at the bar.

Jongdae cheered loudly as Chanyeol downed his fourth tequila shot. He had decided to go all out tonight, all the important speeches and conversations were done. It was time to relax after the intense high school exams and his university interview.

Chanyeol was starting to feel the effects of alcohol but the night was still young as his hyung would say. He had aced his high school and gotten into his dream university, so he had every goddamn right to get drunk tonight.

Jongdae who had been glued to the bar stool the moment he had arrived at the party was already inebriated, being the perfect drinking buddy for Chanyeol.

“I dare you to take another one!” He shouted loudly making Chanyeol wince from the loud volume since Jongdae was now draped all over him and had practically yelled in his ear.

“Nah man,” Chanyeol pushed the emptied shot glasses towards the bartender who was currently busy serving the guests. “I need to mingle.”

Jongdae whistled, “Have anyone in mind for tonight?”

Chanyeol shook his head, “No, not really.”

“I saw Luhan earlier, you know,” Jongdae said after a few minutes. “You guys never got to get it on after what happened in high school.”

Chanyeol grimaced at the embarrassing memory. Luhan had been an exchange student at their school from China, he and Chanyeol had clicked together the moment they had met two years ago.

But maybe deciding to resolve their sexual tension in the school’s changing rooms hadn’t been the best idea as it had led to them being caught by their gym teacher who had immediately reported to both their parents about their scandalous behaviour.

Chanyeol had gotten away since his parents really didn’t care about his promiscuous behaviour just as long as he did well in his studies.

However, Luhan’s rather strict family punished him, by sending him back to China the very week of the scandal.

Chanyeol had been gutted to have never gotten the chance to have a taste of that doe-eyed beauty.

“You want me to start a fight at my own party?” Chanyeol shoved Jongdae away from him who was starting to slip off the stool and more onto Chanyeol; the alcohol was starting to take a toll on the young Kim heir. “His family was furious, Mr. Han even withdrew from that Jeju Island Resort project we had back then.”

“So?” Jongdae raised his eyebrows, clearly not bothered. “Come on, nobody would find out, man~ What’s the point of having a gazillions rooms when you can’t use them at times like these?”

His alcohol fazed mind agreed wholeheartedly with Jongdae’s comment and nodded.

“You know what Chennie Chen, you are right. See yah!”

“Oi, who you callin’ Chennie Chen!” Jongdae slurred out, but the taller simply smirked at him with his tongue sticking out as he hopped off from the barstool.

“Don’t forget protection!” Jongdae hollered out as Chanyeol walked away from the bar to find the blonde beauty, ignoring the disgusted looks that were sent to him. “The last thing we want is you impregnating him!”

Chanyeol flipped a bird in response, not bothering to turn back to face his foolish embarrassing friend.

It didn’t take long for Chanyeol to locate Luhan and have him cornered into a secluded corner, away from the hustling and bustling crowd. Hopefully, this spot hid them well enough from both their families.

“What the hell do you think you are doing, Park?” Luhan managed to hiss out as Chanyeol who seemed unfazed by the struggling Chinese heir manhandled him easily. “You are going to get us in trouble. _Again_.”

“Listen,” Chanyeol whispered sexily making sure to give his best eye sex expression he had.

Luhan gulped nervously in response as he heard Chanyeol’s low voice say, “I have been dying to finish what we started that day, Luhan.”

“And where do you suggest we do that?” Luhan murmured, his breathing had increased as he started to feel the waves of lust that were radiating from the Park heir.

Chanyeol bent down to whisper the directions to the room and before he left he said, “Don’t be late. I will be waiting.”

And with a hard peck on his earring-clad ear, the Park heir walked away cockily.

Chanyeol had told Luhan that he would meet up with him in ten minutes, but before he could leave, his parents managed to get a hold of him and started introducing him to some of their future business partners.

Thankfully, he had managed to shake himself off his clingy proud parents thanks to his older brother who understood very well how he had a much better place to be, proven by the huge leer and wink Yoochun sent him as Chanyeol ran off to the West Wing.

The young Park walked up to the double doors of the blue room noticing that they were slightly ajar implicating that Luhan had already entered the room.

Not wasting any more time, Chanyeol quickly opened the door and hastily entered the dark unlit room.

The moon was fully out tonight but the moonlight still wasn’t enough to see anything clearly inside the room.

As Chanyeol closed the door behind himself and tried to reach for the light switch with his other hand, he was suddenly shoved against the closed door.

“Took you long enough handsome,” he heard the seductive purr close to his ear before his lips were engulfed in a scorching hot kiss.

Chanyeol hummed into the kiss as he felt the overeager heir try to climb his tall frame. To help him he placed his large hands against the smaller male’s waist to raise him up so he could wrap his legs around him easily and realised that the latter's waist was a lot curvier than he had last remembered.

_Maybe Luhan had gained some weight?_

Baekhyun broke the kiss to get some air as Chanyeol proceeded to press hard kisses down his throat causing the shorter male to moan loudly and pull the hair strands of the Park heir in pleasure.

“You are so fucking hot moaning for me like that,” Chanyeol said in his deep voice as he bit and sucked on the earring less lobe causing the shorter male to whimper obscenely sending shivers down Chanyeol’s spine.

_Wasn’t Luhan wearing earrings just a while ago though?_

Before Chanyeol could think any further he was being pulled downwards to connect to the soft plush lips that were eager to suck the air out of him.

Their tongues wrestled deeply as Chanyeol placed his hands lower so that he could squeeze the well-endowed butt, this sent Baekhyun arching as he cried out, his hips swivelling against the taller male’s crotch.

“Fuck…Keep doing that,” Chanyeol heard the breathy cry as he continued to suck hickeys onto the smaller male’s neck as well as simultaneously massaging those perky butt cheeks. Chanyeol just couldn’t wait to worship the body he had been crazily lusting for so long.

“I will be doing more than that baby,” He growled as he pushed his built body against the smaller male’s, with his arms still possessively gripping Baekhyun’s behind he started to grind hard against him.

“Ah! Ah-I fucking love your deep voice-ah,” Baekhyun managed to let out as he wrapped his legs tighter around Chanyeol’s waist to take every fast-growing thrust.

Chanyeol proceeded to carry the young male towards the large queen sized bed. The main reason for picking this room was that the bed had the best mattress for fucking; it had just the right bounce and sturdiness that made love making very enjoyable, that’s why Chanyeol had shared this information with all his friends.

He threw the young heir to the bed, seeing the small figure bounce before pouncing on him.

Rays of moonlight filtered into the blue room, setting a nice dark blue filter to everything that Chanyeol saw, yet it was still too dark to clearly see his partner’s face.

But Chanyeol was too high on lust to give a damn about that.

Chanyeol attached his plush lips to the whimpering male’s neck again, wanting to hear the younger male moan as he started to open the white button-up shirt slowly, travelling downwards until he reached a pink dusty nipple that he started to lick eagerly setting off another round of wanton moans. Chanyeol smirked as he realised that he had found a sensitive spot and he planned to abuse this knowledge to no end.

“Oh! Oh-fuck!” Baekhyun grabbed the hair locks as he gasped. “Fuck..oh my-” he cursed as Chanyeol bit lightly to tease before he began to suck it as if he were a newborn baby having his first meal, unrelenting with the force he used on the helpless lust-crazed male.

The tall male was still hung over the whole teasing idea since he kept himself busy by kissing down Baekhyun’s slim stomach and planted hickeys wherever he pleased on the soft skin. Knowing that the taller male above him wouldn’t be quickening up the pace anytime soon, Baekhyun decided to take the upper hand.

With a strength that surprised Chanyeol, Baekhyun flipped them over so that he was now sat on top of the tall male and ground hard against him, setting a rough and fast pace of thrusting.

“F-fuck!” Chanyeol managed to gasp out as he grabbed onto the curvy waist to help increase the heavenly friction.

Starting to sweat as if they were getting it on in the desert, Baekhyun decided that he had enough of the dry humping and proceeded to unbuckle the taller male’s belt and stick his hand inside to grab what he had been thirsting for the whole night.

“Fuck, you are so _big_…” Baekhyun moaned out as he felt large hands get inside his pants to grab his bare bottom causing him to grip harder onto the latter’s cock through his underwear.

Chanyeol gasped at the sudden squeeze on his member, in turn, he clung to the soft perky globes even harder making the shorter male yelp and gasp above him.

“What do you expect, babe? I am a _Park_, everyone knows that we are gifted in every department. Especially in this one,” Chanyeol chuckled out cockily, brushing his lips against the soft jawline and thrust against the warm hand.

Chanyeol didn’t expect to be pushed back roughly in response to that.

“What-“ He started to ask when the delicate soft hands suddenly left his aching problem.

“GET THE FUCK OFF ME, PARK!” Baekhyun screamed out as he slapped away the hands that were relentlessly holding onto his waist.

Suddenly recognising the owner of the high-pitched scream, Chanyeol suddenly let go and sat up to see the shorter male stumble off the bed and scramble to turn on the lights, “Baekhyun?”

“Oh my god! I can’t fucking believe this is happening” Baekhyun groaned out as he hid his face in hands and screamed in anguish. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

Chanyeol was embarrassed and disappointed as his boner had died the moment he had recognised Baekhyun’s voice.

It’s just his fucking luck to still be unable to bone Luhan.

_Just, great._

He chuckled to himself, finding the situation hilarious not realising the glare he was getting from the Byun heir.

“How dare you violate me, Park? You think this is funny?” Baekhyun shouted as he stalked towards the dishevelled sexed-up Chanyeol, trying hard not to take notice of all the marks that his mouth and hands had left on him. “I am going to tell my father how you forced yourself on me, I will see then if you are still laughing like this.”

“Me forcing you?” Chanyeol let out another chuckle before he got up from the bed and buckled up his belt. “Bitch, it was you who didn’t even let me turn the light on before you set to maul me.”

“I DID NOT!” Baekhyun refused to admit to such scandalous behaviour, his neck was sore from all the hickeys the Park had given him like a rabid animal and so he pointed to his bruised neck, “It was you who was _mauling_ me Chanyeol!”

_Damn, I went a bit crazy_, Chanyeol’s eyebrows rose upwards as he finally saw the hickey-filled neck clearly. But it wasn’t his fault; “It’s all your fault for moaning like a bitch in heat whenever I touched your neck!”

Baekhyun turned red at that accusation, “It’s not my fault my neck is sensitive!” he then noticed Chanyeol’s gaze lower down to his opened shirt, showing his bare chest filled with red blotches, especially around his nipples where Chanyeol had gone particularly crazy.

Chanyeol was starting to get hot again seeing his artwork on the smaller male but realised that it was his arch nemesis standing in front of him and not a usual one night stand.

Baekhyun quickly fastened his buttons up, “Anyways, be sure that you will be contacted by my lawyer and-“

“Baekhyun, wouldn’t it be better to just forget this ever happening? It’s embarrassing enough as it is,” Chanyeol cut off the Byun heir, slowly walking towards the latter causing Baekhyun who stepped back.

“So, nobody would ever know?” Baekhyun asked hesitantly, clearly taking a liking to that idea by the way his body suddenly relaxed after hearing Chanyeol’s suggestion. “You won’t ever bring it up?”

“Yep,” Chanyeol agreed, before smirking “Swapping saliva with you isn’t something that I am proud to boast about.”

“Excuse me!” Baekhyun screeched, blatantly offended as he walked up to the taller male and prodded his fingers against his now clothed chest. “Everybody is dying to have a piece of me. You should consider yourself lucky that you even got to have a taste of me!”

Chanyeol scoffed, pushing away “Oh please, more like you were eager for some well-endowed cock that has pleased many.”

“Fuck you, I thought you were Kris!” Baekhyun yelled, raising his arms up in frustration.

“Oh…” Chanyeol now had realised what had happened, he had told all his close friends in the past that they could use the blue room for their ‘conquests’ but he had never thought that their plans would ever clash.

_Wait…why was Kris getting it on with Baekhyun when he knew that the Byuns were a no-go?_

Seeing Chanyeol’s confused expression, Baekhyun asked with a wide grin tauntingly, “What? Are you surprised that your _BFF_ has the hots for me?”

“Pfft…No!” Chanyeol objected but his facial expressions were giving everything away, he looked like a betrayed puppy.

Baekhyun enjoyed his upper hand in the conversation and laughed obnoxiously, “It’s the truth, Park. All your friends are lusting after me, it’s just because of you that they don’t act on it.”

Chanyeol was too gobsmacked to reply to that. What nonsense was the Byun heir spouting on about? He really needed to have a chat with Kris after this.

Baekhyun checked himself in the mirror of the dressing table and seeing that he was now presentable enough to leave the room, he turned around to look at Chanyeol, “Tonight never happened, okay?”

“It didn’t happen,” Chanyeol asserted in a serious tone and watched the 18-year-old Byun Baekhyun leave the room, banging the door shut behind him.

However, that night both of them couldn’t sleep after somehow accepting the fact that they had both had engaged in probably their best make-out sessions to that date that night. 

They have never felt such strong lust and attraction before for someone else and to experience so much intense pleasure in such a short period of time all from their arch-nemesis.

It was a daunting thought.

They both knew that if they hadn’t stopped it would perhaps have been their best night of their life.

But of course, they would rather die than to admit that to anyone.

“Ah, ah!”

Loud vulgar moans could be heard from outside the closed blue doors. Kris frowned in confusion and before he could come to any conclusions he saw Luhan appear before him.

“It’s taken?” Luhan asked incredulously. “And here I had really thought that Chanyeol wanted me!”

“Chanyeol is in there?” Kris asked with wide eyes, he had thought that it was Baekhyun who had been behind all the sexual noises he could hear, but now that he knew Park was involved there was no way that those two heirs would ever get it on together.

Luhan nodded as he pouted sadly, “Some bitch probably jumped on him! I knew I shouldn’t have gone to the bar to get that extra drink. I was just so nervous about getting caught, you know…”

Kris nodded with understanding, knowing full well Luhan’s past history with his best friend. “So…” He rubbed his shoe against the carpet nervously, the moans were now being accompanied by loud grunts that obviously belonged to the Park heir, “Wanna hang out? I know a really cool place on this floor.”

Luhan’s eyes brightened at the proposition, “Oh I would love to!” he gushed out as he eagerly wrapped his hands around the sturdy arm that was being offered.

***

Present day

Baekhyun woke up in a moving car and the first thing he did was scream loudly.

_Had the syndicate managed to kidnap him?_

“God, just shut the hell up, will you? My ears are still ringing from that god damn blast,” He heard the driver beside him groan.

“Chanyeol?” He said as his eyes tried to adjust to the sunlight streaming in through the windscreen. Baekhyun could recognise that annoying deep voice anywhere, so he doesn’t know why he was making sure.

“Who else?” He heard the sassy reply, but Baekhyun still couldn’t help but cry in relief.

“We made it, we actually made it,” he cried out as he rubbed his eyes with both his hands.

“I don’t know about the _'we' part_ as both of us would have been blown to bits if it hadn’t been for _me_,” Chanyeol scoffed as he kept his eyes on the road, refusing to look at the sobbing mess beside him on the passenger seat.

Baekhyun didn’t have any energy to object to that statement because it was indeed the truth.

Chanyeol had saved his life twice now.

“Have you been able to contact the others?” Baekhyun asked after quite some time. Due to his malnourished state he still felt pretty out of it.

Chanyeol sighed, “No, my phone got damaged.”

Remembering that Chanyeol had the phone on him when they had escaped, he fully turned his head to look at Chanyeol closely.

And that’s when he noticed the burns on Chanyeol’s arms, the jacket he had worn before wasn’t on him anymore. He was wearing a grey T-shirt that hugged his muscled torso and biceps, but his forearms were red from burns.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but cringe at the sight.

He then looked at Chanyeol’s face, which had cuts from where the gravel had supposedly hit him.

Baekhyun looked at his own uninjured body and let out a sigh of relief. He had been lucky, probably because he had been in the car and was hence less affected by the blast.

“I don’t know what is wrong with you, Byun, but you have a lot of explaining to do,” Chanyeol spoke sternly, noticing the smaller male staring a hole into his head.

Once they had reached the nearest town from the Jung Manor, Chanyeol parked his scratched BMW next to a phone booth.

“I am going to call Yunho to ask about the meeting point and to let him now that we are safe,” Chanyeol said as he looked for some change for the phone booth in the glove box. “You can stay in the car.”

Baekhyun hummed in response and rested his head against the headrest. He was feeling really unwell; he hoped that the meeting place wasn’t too far away as he couldn’t stand being in Chanyeol’s company any longer than he already had.

***

“Hello, this is Chanyeol, we-“

“Chanyeol? Thank god you rang us! We were going crazy here after the bomb went off. How is Baekhyun?” Jaejoong’s shrill voice replied on the other end before Chanyeol could even finish his greeting.

“Let them speak, babe,” Yunho’s voice was heard in the background.

“We are alright, Hyung-deul. Just tell us the meeting point,” Chanyeol finally got to answer once Yunho had calmed down Jaejoong and took the phone from him.

“Thank god for that. And as for the meeting point, Chanyeol…you guys won’t be able to come where we are,” Yunho said slowly, apprehension clear in his voice.

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows and frowned, “Why not? Our car is fully functioning, Hyung. I am already on the road to Busan, in the same direction that you all had taken.”

“It’s not that, Chanyeol. Chances are that the syndicate is tailing you two right now. I don’t want to risk everyone's security just for the both of you to join us much later on,” Yunho declared bluntly.

“So what do you suggest for us to do? Are you just going to leave us alone out here? Hyung, if the syndicate catches us on our own like this, we are screwed!” Chanyeol yelled into the phone.

Baekhyun who had been close to falling asleep again suddenly jolted awake due to the sudden loud muffled words of a certain loud giant. He sighed as he opened the car door to get to the phone booth, hoping that there were no more problems on their way.

“No, Chanyeol. We aren’t abandoning you. In fact, I think my plan has sped up a bit due to the current events.” Yunho tried to calm the agitated young heir, his voice soft and soothing as he continued on to speak. “Let’s just say that you two will be playing a far more active role than anybody here. It’s all up to you two now,” Yunho explained calmly as he could, knowing full well that Chanyeol was a bit of a hothead just like his older brother Yoochun. But Yunho knew that he could trust him like his own blood; there was nobody better for the job aside from Chanyeol at this moment in time.

“I don’t understand, Hyung,” Chanyeol mumbled, trying to recall Jung Yunho’s plan that they had all been discussing in the past few weeks. “You had said something about infiltrating the syndicate that night...” Chanyeol rubbed his forehead with his free hand, trying to soothe an oncoming migraine.

“Exactly, you are already part of the Syndicate in some way, Chanyeol. So it will be easy for you to infiltrate it even further,” Yunho added.

“_Me?_ Hyung, I had thought it would either be you or Changmin hyung when you talked about this infiltration plan! I am not ready for such a mission! Just tell us a safe place where we can go until we are sure that they aren’t following us,” Chanyeol demanded angrily. The migraine was in full force now. He will definitely need some painkillers after this damn phone call.

“No Chanyeol, we aren’t meeting unless this plan has been put into action. I am 100% sure that they are trailing your car right now. You guys left nearly an hour later than us. You have no choice but to do this,” Yunho ordered.

“Hyung I-“ Chanyeol hated how he was suddenly being forced into this. When all he wanted at this moment was to be reunited with his family and friends.

“Just listen to me, Chanyeol-ah,” Yunho said softly, his voice laced with love and care that Chanyeol had always associated with the elder male. Jung Yunho had been like another older brother, while Chanyeol grew up. Yoochun hadn’t always been the most mature brother for Chanyeol to look up to, but Yunho had been there for him, and undoubtedly behind the Park Chanyeol that stood today. “You know that there is no other way, we have discussed every possible plan in the past few weeks. This has the highest success rate and _you_ know it.”

“What about me?” Baekhyun’s small voice spoke up behind the taller male who was absorbed into the phone call. Chanyeol suddenly whipped around to see that Baekhyun had now entered the phone booth, his form was covered with the blanket that Chanyeol had found after he had seen the unconscious male shivering when driving away from smoking Jung manor.

The Park heir assumed that Baekhyun had most likely overheard the conversation guessing from the look the latter was sporting.

Not knowing what to say Chanyeol remained silent and instead handed the phone receiver to Baekhyun. Accepting the receiver Baekhyun repeated his words to the Jung CEO, “What about me in all of this? I am not even part of this so-called syndicate and as far as I know they have been after me for a long time...they surely would never want to comply with my presence in any way,” Baekhyun pointed out the main worry.

Chanyeol couldn’t help but nod to Baekhyun’s statement. _Hopefully, Baekhyun would be able to convince Yunho to not go through with this plan_, Chanyeol thought as he worryingly nibbled on his bottom lip.

“You know that they only targeted you because you were the easiest option. Targeting you wouldn’t have cost them anything, as you and your family had no dealings with them. But you were still influential enough to cause fear and havoc amongst the Elites. So don’t worry about that Baekhyun-ah, I will think of something. For now, you two need to keep on driving until Chungbuk, rest and take care of yourselves. You have been through enough today. I will call you guys later tonight after we have a meeting with the Elites here,” Yunho couldn’t help but give the orders in the formal tone he always used.

The Jung CEO knew that it wouldn’t be an easy task to convince the young men at the moment. He needed to have their families approval and support to get the plan running.

Chanyeol shook his head in dismay, all hope lost as he heard the final words from Jung Yunho. It was clear that the older male wouldn’t budge from his plan.

“Alright hyung,” Chanyeol said after grabbing the phone receiver from Baekhyun’s trembling hands and before Yunho could reply he hung up.

Chanyeol took a deep sigh, his shoulders humped as he gripped onto the phone box tightly.

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asked in a small voice, worried since the young CEO-to-be had a tight grip on the phone receiver and seemed to be in deep thought.

“ARGH! FUCK THIS SHIT!” He bellowed out, slamming his hand on the plastic phone booth window with his hand. Baekhyun jumped from the sudden outburst, his eyes wide to see the aggressive behaviour in such a small confined space.

Suddenly Chanyeol turned to him with fury, “It’s all because of _you_! Now that we have the syndicate after us, I most likely will never see my family again! I will probably die at the hands of the syndicate thanks to this stupid infiltration plan!”

“Chanyeol, I don’t think Yunho hyung will tell you to do something that will endanger you-” Baekhyun tried to explain but he wasn’t too sure himself what this plan entailed to say anything with confidence.

“You don’t understand! If Yunho or Changmin were to do this mission by themselves, they wouldn’t die. Whereas I will probably fuck things up, Byun! I have zero knowledge and experience compared to Changmin was the one that had been chosen to infiltrate the syndicate,” Chanyeol growled out, his eyes probing into Baekhyun’s distressed gaze. “I _just_ know that I will end up getting caught...GOD DAMN IT!” He ended his sentence with his fist banging on the window again, Baekhyun was sure that if it had been made of glass it would have had cracks by now.

Baekhyun simply gulped, not knowing how to comfort Chanyeol.

They had never been close and were now somehow stuck together in a situation that put all the Elites’ livelihood in their hands. They would have to be beside each other, withstand each other’s ugly sides and somehow infiltrate the biggest crime syndicate of Asia.

“Let's carry on making our way to Chungbuk. I don’t want to get caught with them before we even get a call from the others,” Baekhyun suggested with a small voice, anything sounded better than to be caught by the very people that had murdered his cousin, even if it were to have Chanyeol with him for who knows how long.

Huffing loudly, Chanyeol pushed him out of the way to exit the phone booth slamming the door behind him and opening the driver’s door of the car.

Baekhyun simply took a deep breath before he built up the strength to walk towards the car, his feet stumbling as he stepped down from the pavement.

As he finally managed to buckle himself to his seat, he turned to look at Chanyeol and was shocked to see the wide orbs wet as they glared ahead.

“I am ready,” Baekhyun prompted the latter to start the car.

Chanyeol merely cursed under his breath as he turned the engine on, refusing to say any more to the shorter male.

***

Once they had arrived in the targeted city it was already close to 9 o'clock at night. They walked up to the reception desk of a 3-star motel if it hadn’t been for the large board stating the star rating Chanyeol would have never guessed that this average-looking motel would even have a star.

But he wasn’t in a position to be picky, it would be better for them to stay low and there were no other decent places to stay the night except for this measly motel.

A young blonde haired girl welcomed them with a big smile at the receptionist desk.

“Do you have a room available with two single beds?” Chanyeol asked, already taking out his wallet and pulling out his black card.

“I will just check, wait a minute, Sir,” She said as she checked on the computer, and then frowned, “I am sorry, Sir, but there are no rooms with two single beds available at the moment. There are some with a double bed though?”

“Aishh...” Chanyeol muttered under his breath as he tapped his card against the receptionist desk. He turned to look at Baekhyun, who seemed to be having trouble even standing straight, his body was slowly tilting towards him for support. Baekhyun’s head eventually rested against the taller male’s biceps with his eyes closed, breathing softly as if he were really sleeping whilst standing.

They both needed rest and at the moment it really didn’t matter where and how they slept.

“Alright, we will have that room then,” He eventually replied as he gave her his card and then asked, “Do you have room service offering food?”

“No, we don’t, sir, but we could buy something from one of the restaurants down the street and bring it to you if you want. Here are the leaflets,” She explained as she handed him a bunch of menu brochures, her eyes twinkling as they fell on half asleep Byun resting against his frame.

Ignoring the weird behaviour of the receptionist, Chanyeol decided to order nearly everything on the menu, keeping in mind to order a lot of meat. Baekhyun seemed to look as if he hadn’t eaten in days and guessing from the strict orders that Yunho had given, both of them were in for a hell of a ride. They needed to replenish their energy as soon as possible, the Syndicate wouldn’t be waiting for them to feel better.

“Alright, sir, the food will be ordered within an hour or so. I hope you enjoy your stay,” She said happily as she bowed and smiled widely.

Chanyeol didn’t bother to return the smile as he wrapped an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder, turning themselves around and guiding the Byun heir to the elevator.

“Are they having a lover’s spat? Why else would such a cute caring couple be asking for two beds?” She talked to herself as she observed the taller man guiding his cute sleepy partner into the elevator.

“Momo! What did I say about standing at the empty reception desk when there are clearly more important jobs to be done?!” Shouted the manager after a couple of minutes, startling the daydreaming girl.

“Oops...” Momo muttered, her smile not dropping thanks to the cute couple.

***

Baekhyun had slept as soon as he had hit the bed, so he hadn’t fully realized the concept of them having to share a bed. It was later on when he woke up to loud knocks on the door that he noticed the tall Park drooling away on the adjacent cushion.

Baekhyun suddenly sat up in surprise, his eyes wide as he saw the Park heir sleep in the same bed as him. _He didn’t even bother to ask for permission_, Baekhyun scoffed internally as he glared at the latter dozing away before his attention was brought to the loud knocking again.

With his head throbbing due to the painful headache, Baekhyun stumbled towards the door, hitting the small table and armchair along the way.

Trying to ignore the feeling of his head spinning up like a tornado, he fiddled with the door’s lock and before he could open the latch he was roughly pulled back from the door and slammed against a hard body.

“Are you fucking stupid, Byun?” Chanyeol’s rough voice whispered into Baekhyun’s ears. “It could be _them_.”

Baekhyun gulped in fear as his blood froze, observing the door before them. The haziness from the sleep suddenly disappeared for him to grasp the position they were in. Chanyeol had his arm wrapped around him and before he could struggle away from the strong hold, the Park heir leant forward to look through the eyepiece of the door.

After recognizing the girl from the receptionist desk Chanyeol quickly opened the door, not realising that he still held a strong grip on Baekhyun’s waist who was now fully using Chanyeol’s body to stabilize himself.

Baekhyun was starting to feel lightheaded again and decided to use Chanyeol’s strong grip on him as a support.

Momo was about to knock again before the door suddenly opened to reveal the ‘cute couple’ she had served an hour ago. She tried to suppress the squeal that threatened to spill out of her as she set her twinkling eyes on the tired and drowsy couple.

The taller of two seemed to have a frown that was getting deeper by the second, that quickly set Momo into action.

“Sorry to disturb you!” Momo suddenly blushed realizing that she had been entranced in her ‘fangirl mode’ again. “I have brought the food you ordered, sir.”

Chanyeol saw the blush on the young girl’s face and followed her gaze that was focusing on his arm that was still wrapped around Baekhyun, the latter seemed to be still half asleep by the looks of it.

He suddenly let go of the waist to take hold of the rolling trolley from the blonde receptionist. Baekhyun not having the support anymore stumbled a bit until he steadied himself by holding onto the doorframe, his eyes blinking at the large food trolley before him.

Momo couldn’t help but coo at the adorable sight, her eyes sending out hearts to the sleepy couple.

“Thank you,” Chanyeol said in his rough voice, still laced with sleep.

Momo’s cheeks flushed pink as she bowed, “I hope you enjoy your food! By the way, you guys are soooo damn adorable! You have got to be the cutest couple to ever visit our motel!”

Seeing the shocked faces of the now suddenly alert couple had Momo realizing what she had just sputtered out. “Oh, I am so sorry that wasn’t meant to come out,” She covered her mouth and bowed again. “Call me if you need any help. Bye!” And ran off before she could embarrass herself any further.

Chanyeol gulped nervously as he looked at Baekhyun who still seemed to be in shock by the words that had just been said by the weird girl.

Chanyeol’s eyes narrowed on Baekhyun’s face that was starting to look extremely pale and he was sure that the latter would collapse soon if he didn’t eat anytime soon.

Suddenly remembering the current situation Chanyeol quickly finished bringing the trolley inside and closed the door.

“Eat quickly before the food gets cold,” Chanyeol opened the packaging of the food and started to put the food into the provided plates, before settling himself on one of the armchairs.

A loud crash resounded in the room, causing Chanyeol to twist his head to see Baekhyun stumble into the armchair opposite to him, making it topple over and onto the carpeted floor.

Seeing that the young Byun’s legs were out of order, Chanyeol sighed loudly before walking towards the weak Baekhyun and escorted the young brunet to the nearest armchair.

Chanyeol grumbled underneath his breath, “Not only do I have to infiltrate the god damn syndicate but I have to be a freaking babysitter too, just _great_.”

“Sorry,” Baekhyun managed to mumble out as he settled himself into the chair comfortably. “I don’t want to be here either, you know.”

Chanyeol suddenly felt guilty for his harsh wording, who knew what Baekhyun had been going through in the past few weeks and the last thing the Byun heir deserved was the brunt of his bad moods.

“Just eat.” He ordered as he shoved the plate full of food towards Baekhyun. “You need to recover as soon as possible. You will most likely be accompanying me on this godforsaken mission.”

Baekhyun chewed slowly on the chicken, before he mumbled out, “But, I have got nothing to do with the Syndicate...”

“Trust me, you do more than you think,” Chanyeol slurped on the soup loudly making Baekhyun frown in disgust. “We are going to be partners, isn’t that awesome,” Chanyeol said sarcastically.

“It’s my fault. If it weren’t for me…we wouldn’t be stuck in such a predicament,” Baekhyun fiddled with the kimchi his lips formed into a miserable pout.

“That’s true,” Chanyeol burped after he took a big gulp of Pepsi, trying not to let his gaze linger on the delectable pout on display before him, “But what’s new, you are always the root of trouble since forever, Byun.”

“Can I at least have a proper conversation with you without you insulting me in every sentence?” Baekhyun finally lashed out, extremely tired of Chanyeol’s annoying and insulting remarks.

“Not my fault you can’t handle the truth, Baek,” Chanyeol shrugged shamelessly as he continued to eat.

Before Baekhyun could retort, Chanyeol’s mobile phone rang loudly, propelling Chanyeol to drop his plate onto the trolley and run to the bedside table.

"Hello, Hyung?” Chanyeol answered, putting the phone on speaker before walking back towards Baekhyun.

“Chanyeol-ah, we have all been discussing the best plan of action for the past hour,” Changmin’s voice filled the motel room. “Is Baekhyun listening too?”

“I am,” Baekhyun answered in a small voice, biting his lips nervously as he fiddled with the food.

“Go ahead,” Chanyeol bugged. “It better be good.”

“Alright, as we said before, Chanyeol you will need to infiltrate the Syndicate to try to get to the higher-ups and find out who it is that is against us all and behind these attacks.”

“Great and how will I do that? They will shoot me the moment I contact them and that is if they aren't already on their way to kill us,” Chanyeol replied in a deadpan tone, seeing Baekhyun tense up in his peripheral vision after he mentioned the word ‘kill’.

“Just listen, Chanyeol. I know a few people in the Syndicate that are neutral in all of this. You just need to meet these contacts, convince them to be on _your_ side and climb your way up.”

“It’s easier said than done,” Chanyeol rubbed his forehead. “How do I convince them to be on my side?”

“It isn’t an easy task I know,” Changmin admitted. “But thanks to Jaejoong and Yoochun, we have an excellent plan to make the mission successful”

Hearing his brother’s involvement in all of this made Chanyeol brighten up a bit, “Really? What did they say?”

“Look, when I said to convince them to be on your side I didn’t mean our, the Elites’ side, I meant just you and Baekhyun,” Changmin started to explain eagerly.

After hearing his name, Baekhyun sent a confused look to Chanyeol who shared the same expression, “We don’t get what you are trying to say, Changmin Hyung.”

“I am really bad at explaining, I told Yunho to explain it but Jaejoong was being the attention whore he is,” Changmin then started to complain about the shameless couple always getting it on, before Chanyeol cleared his throat bringing Changmin back to the topic. “Sorry, okay long story short, you and Baekhyun will try to seek help from the Syndicate against us.”

“Help from the very syndicate themselves?” Chanyeol asked, his mind not being able to digest anything. “Hyung. just put Yunho on the phone. You suck at this whole explaining thing,” Chanyeol joked yet his tone sounded nervous.

If this was the plan that had been collectively conceived by his family and friends, then Chanyeol was starting to lose faith in the Elites. _Surely this couldn’t be the best that they could think of_, Chanyeol thought as he tried to rub the headache away with his hand.

“Oi! Respect your hyung, you overgrown twat!” Changmin scolded.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but smile bitterly at the banter being exchanged between the two Elites.

Chanyeol chuckled in response, forgetting for a while about the godforsaken mission, “But you are taller than me, Hyung!” Chanyeol corrected him with a smirk on his face. “But seriously, is there anyone who can tell us what the hell we will be doing?”

Chanyeol heard a few shouts of ‘_No_’ and ‘_Give it to me_’ through the phone speaker, before hearing his older sister, Dara, call out his name, “Chanyeol-ah?”

“Hello, Noona,” Chanyeol answered. “Can you please do the honours?”

“First of all, Chanyeol-ah,promise me that you won’t cut me off,”

“I promise noona just please get on with it,” Chanyeol whined childishly, naturally whenever it came to his older sister.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but frown at the disgustingly cute display. _Seriously? Who gets away with aegyo at this age?_ Baekhyun judged him with his narrowed gaze while he slowly chewed on his food.

“You and Baekhyun-ah will be seeking help to get away from us,” Dara began to say.

“But what the fuck does that even mean-

“Chanyeol!”

“Sorry.”

“So as I was saying, you and Baekhyun will say that you ran away from us because you knew that we will never accept the relationship both of you have.”

Baekhyun and Chanyeol both shared their looks of stupor as the eldest Park sibling went on to say, “You both love each other deeply but because of our family rivalry you decided to elope at the best-given opportunity which was today’s evacuation.”

Chanyeol couldn’t stay quiet anymore, “Noona, are you listening to what you are saying?”

Baekhyun also shouted along, despite not having as much energy as the Park heir, “How did everyone agree to go along with this?”

“JUST LISTEN, YOU TWO!” Dara raised her voice, silencing both Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s yelling. Having never heard the eldest Park sibling ever raise her voice had them going silent to listen to the Park heiress.

“Both of your lives are in danger, as well as ours. I will not have you two acting like immature children in such a dire situation like this! Do you understand me?” Dara scolded, her voice cracking with anger, shocking Chanyeol who had never seen this side of his sister before.

She was known to always be calm and had never seen her express any negative emotions before.

Both the young men refused to say anything in reply, knowing fully well that their replies will anger the elder woman even more. 

“This is the only solution that will guarantee all of our safety, as well as defeat our enemy!” She continued to rage on.

Dara’s voice then broke near the end, “Chanyeol-ah, do you know how many times I had to soothe mother last night when she realized that you won’t be coming back home? It’s killing us all that you aren’t here with us right now.”

“I am sorry, Noona...But please understand what you are asking of me is impossible...” Chanyeol replied softly, his eyes watering as he imagined his mother’s distraught state.

“It is not impossible,” Dara finalized. “It’s pretty simple. You both have to just act like lovers who are on the run from their families.”

“The syndicate isn’t that dumb,” Chanyeol argued back. “They will see right through us!”

“Then you will make sure to not leave any doubts,” Dara ordered. “Yunho suggested that you visit a courthouse first thing tomorrow to apply for a court marriage. This will further testify your statement that you will be giving to the Syndicate.”

Feeling completely helpless Baekhyun started to sniffle quietly as he realised how both Chanyeol and he were pretty much screwed.

“And then who will we go to?” Chanyeol asked, suddenly feeling powerless. He knew that he could do nothing but go along with what was being said. He wanted his family to be safe foremost. He couldn’t afford to act selfishly when he had so many lives at stake.

“Changmin will give you all the contacts that will be willing to talk to you, Yeol,” Dara spoke softly, dropping her stern tone after realising that Chanyeol had given up on rejecting the plan.

Before Chanyeol could reply to his sister, he heard his older brother on the phone. “Chanyeol-ah, it won’t be easy to convince them. I know how much you hate Baekhyun, but for all of our sake just use your acting skills that all of the Park siblings are blessed with,” Yoochun said jokingly, making Chanyeol smile despite feeling like crying.

“Alright, Hyung,” He said reluctantly as he turned to look where Baekhyun was sat but noticed that the latter was not in his armchair anymore. Chanyeol twisted to look around to see that the bathroom door shut close. “I don’t think Baekhyun will agree as easily though.” He carried on speaking into the phone.

“If your stubborn ass is ready for the mission then I’m sure he will agree too. You have always been the most hard-headed out of all the Park siblings,” Yoochun quipped.

“If you say so,” Chanyeol finally relented, he could feel his brain whirring up with ways to convince Baekhyun. Chanyeol hopes that Baekhyun will agree, as he himself is ready to do anything for his beloved family.

“I miss you Hyung, I miss everyone,” Chanyeol whispered after a while.

“We miss you a lot too, Chanyeol. I wish you all the best, baby brother. I know that you can do this! It won’t be long until we will all be reunited,” Yoochun’s caring words had Chanyeol tearing up but he tried to fight back his tears. He didn’t want to be weak when everyone seemed to believe in him to such a great extent.

“How’s Sehun-ah?” He managed to choke out, his voice was starting to break and he knew his brother had noticed as Yoochun himself spoke with a wavering voice in return. “That boy…if it hadn’t been for Taemin and Jongin, he would have still been a mess.”

Chanyeol's grip tightened on the phone.

“It took us a while to calm him down after the blast happened, it actually wasn’t until you rang an hour ago that he managed to sleep,” Yoochun carried on to say.

Chanyeol’s heart constricted hearing the painful news. “I want to talk to him, hyung. Please tell me when he is awake.”

“We will have time for that later. As far as I know, we should try to make minimal contact with you. So whenever you find it suitable, call us. We will always be here for you, Chanyeol-ah,”

“Thanks, hyung. Take care of mum and dad.”

“I will and you take care of yourself and Byun,” Yoochun replied and with that, the call ended.

Chanyeol sighed as he sat on the bed and tried to calm himself down. The phone call had been a mind-blower. He wasn’t so sure if both Baekhyun and he could carry out what the Elites ordered.

And even if they did, will the Syndicate really be that foolish to believe their Romeo and Juliet love story?

_Since when was the syndicate a sanctuary for forbidden lovers?_

Chanyeol scoffed loudly, as he ran a hand through his messy black locks.

The Elite family must have been really desperate that they had put forward such an absurd plan.

A loud muffled broken sob echoed from the bathroom, breaking Chanyeol away from his deep thinking.

_Shit, Baekhyun._

Chanyeol stood up and sprinted towards the bathroom door. After shaking the knob he realised that the Byun heir had locked himself in the bathroom.

“Open the door, Byun!” He ordered, slamming his hand against the door in unconcealed frustration. The sobbing stopped but Baekhyun refused to comply.

“For fuck's sake, Baekhyun!” Chanyeol urged, trying not to lose his temper on the clearly emotional male. If he played this right, Baekhyun would agree with the stupid plan the Elites had come up with. “I know how you are feeling right now, I am feeling just as forced into this as you are.”

Chanyeol heard nothing but silence in response, causing him to let out a grunt as he hit the door again with his fist.

Couldn’t his family realize that the task they had assigned him was near impossible? He and Byun had yet to have a decent conversation in the twenty years or so they have known each other, let alone be acting like passionate eloped lovers.

Before the Park heir could yell the door down again the door suddenly opened, showing Baekhyun with his red and swollen eyes sending him a glare of pure hate.

Chanyeol looked at him helplessly, his eyes wide and pleading, “Baekhyun, we have no choice…please understand...”

“I am tired of this, Park!” Baekhyun cried out, pushing him out of the way so that he could make his way towards the bed. He crashed onto the unmade bed, and pulled the duvet over his body, “Turn off the lights, I am going to sleep.”

“We need to talk about this, Baekhyun!” Chanyeol stealthily strode up to him, his hands curled up into fists. “You can’t just ignore me, our lives are at stake!”

“I don’t _fucking_ care!” Baekhyun screamed at him, wriggling under the duvet to find a comfortable position. “Nobody fucking cares whether I live or die, okay? So why the fuck should I be scared, huh?”

“Who said-“ Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrowed at the words that were being thrown at him being the agitated male.

“You have a family that loves you, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun croaked out, his droopy eyes conveying the pain he was feeling right now.

He had felt so alone when hearing Chanyeol speaking earlier to his siblings so affectionately. Everyone seemed to love the tall Park unconditionally. This had never been the case for Baekhyun. The only love he had ever gotten was from his ever-fearful mother and his deceased cousin, Taehyung.

The recent phone call had been a stark reminder for Baekhyun that nobody truly cared about him, not even his mother.

“This whole,” Baekhyun gestured with his hands waving around, “plan is alright with you because you have something to propel you, to encourage you, to give you motivation and that something is your _family_, Chanyeol. I have got nothing to go back to, so tell me why should I go through all of this? For what? I didn’t even want to live a few days ago, god damn it!” Baekhyun threw Chanyeol’s pillow across the room in fury, with Chanyeol simple standing still, completely stunned at the sight of Baekhyun dispelling his rage in such a manner.

The tall Park didn’t know what to say he had never been good with words especially when it came to Baekhyun. But he knew that the smaller male had just opened up to him in the rage of an emotional breakdown.

It took a few minutes of silence for Baekhyun to stop with throwing everything possible in his reach across the room. Chanyeol hoped that nobody would complain about the noise, but then again guessing by the state of this motel, nobody would care.

Slowly, Chanyeol made his way towards the bed, as soon as he sat on Baekhyun’s side of the bed it sent the smaller brunette shuffling backwards to lean against the wooden headboard.

The Byun heir was now wrapped up in a duvet burrito, with his messy locks sticking out and two small droopy eyes glaring back at him like a cat.

“Hear me out, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol spoke softly, pushing down the urge to cringe that came with saying Baekhyun’s name in such a caring manner. He just hoped that Baekhyun would listen to him just once.

“You only speak nicely to me when you want something, you selfish bastard!” Baekhyun spat out as he sent daggers at Chanyeol for using the soft tone, before hiding himself deeper within the duvet.

“Baekhyun, please!” Chanyeol pleaded. “Fine, I admit that I am a selfish bastard, that I am an ill-mannered spoiled brat,” He played with a loose thread of the duvet as he continued on to say, “But we have to do this together. You said that nobody would miss you? Well, guess what, without you, all of us are pretty much fucked. That makes you pretty important in my opinion.”

Baekhyun remained silent, pondering over the sweet words that had just come out of the arrogant Park. He refused to believe Chanyeol’s words, he was nothing but a deceiving jerk always out looking for his own gains.

“So? Do you think I care?” Baekhyun stuck out his head of the burrito to say blandly. “Why should I do any of the stuff that your sister said when I am not going to get anything out of it?”

“Now who is being the selfish bastard?” Chanyeol countered.

“Shut up,” Baekhyun grumbled. “I won’t be joining you in this ridiculous plan and that’s final!”

Chanyeol sighed close to giving up when suddenly he was enlightened by a thought. “Byun, don’t you want to avenge the Syndicate for what they did to Taehyung?”

Chanyeol’s sudden statement had Baekhyun completely coming out of his hiding spot under the duvet.

Knowing that he had hit the nail on the head, Chanyeol carried on to say, “He didn’t deserve that, Baekhyun, and so, won’t you fight for him?”

“You are such a smooth-tongued fucker,” Baekhyun snarled, before he started to think deeply about what Chanyeol had just said. 

Feeling smug that he had hopefully managed to convince Baekhyun, Chanyeol decided to get ready for bed as well but saw that Baekhyun hadn’t eaten his food, his plate was more than half full.

“Finish your food, Byun. I don’t want to be carrying you like a prince tomorrow when we are at the courthouse,” Chanyeol handed the plate to still lying Baekhyun who accepted it with a scowl.

“I am not a _fucking_ prince!” Baekhyun cursed as he munched on the food angrily reminding Chanyeol of the pet hamster he had as a child.

_Did I just compare my arch-nemesis to a cute furball?_ Chanyeol shook his head, he clearly has had enough for today; his brain was no longer in working order.

“Alright, alright, just eat,” Chanyeol opened his suitcase to take out his sleepwear. “I will get ready for bed now.”

“You mean the sofa,” Baekhyun corrected with a full mouth as he pointed his chopsticks to the sofa opposite the room.

“Uh no, I mean the bed,” Chanyeol retorted as he made his way towards the bathroom.

“You are not sleeping in the same bed as me!” Baekhyun screeched, kicking his legs.

“Sorry prince, I am afraid that you have no say in this matter,” Chanyeol concluded before closing the bathroom door behind him but was still able to hear the shrill scream,

“I TOLD YOU THAT I AM NOT A FUCKING PRINCE, YOU DEAF YODA!”

_It seemed like the old Baekhyun was starting to come back._

***

Baekhyun hadn’t slept this well in a long time. Despite last night’s events being headache-inducing, Baekhyun had somehow come to a conclusion before he fell asleep last night.

It had been amidst Chanyeol’s slow and steady, deep breathing; the tall obnoxious male having gone off to dreamland as soon as his large head had hit the pillow, that Baekhyun finally came to terms with what his role should be in the current dilemma.

He was going to go along with the utterly stupid and senseless strategy that had been proposed by the Elites.

_I am doing it just for you, Taehyung-ah_, had been Baekhyun’s last thought before he had fallen asleep.

Baekhyun woke up to a tiny gasp and sounds of plates being stacked.

He quickly sat up to see the young blonde girl who had mistaken them for a couple yesterday. At that time he had been too sleepy and out of it to correct her.

The bright, red blush adorning her face as she smiled at him in greeting, indicated that she truly believed that he and Chanyeol are a thing.

Baekhyun held the urge to gag at the disgusting thought.

“I...” Baekhyun croaked out and coughed to clear his throat and before he could get the chance to talk again, the young girl started to speak.

“I am so sorry for disturbing you! I had to collect these plates since the restaurant was asking for them and you guys didn’t attend the phone, so I really do apologise for interrupting your private time and breaching your privacy!” Momo rambled without pause, as she quickly cleaned up the mess the two males had made the prior night.

“It’s alright,” Baekhyun managed to say before the girl could start rambling again. “Actually, I wanted to clear something up with you-“

“I have to say yet again that you two are absolutely adorable together! I couldn’t stop thinking about you guys! How long have you been together?” Momo gushed out, her eyes literally sending hearts to him and the slumbering Park heir.

“No, you’ve got it all wrong,” Baekhyun shuffled under her strong endearing gaze, noticing that as the girl’s gaze travelled lower her blush worsened.

He looked downwards curiously, only to see Chanyeol’s left muscular arm draped around his waist. Eyes widening comically, Baekhyun quickly removed the said arm, roughly pushing it away from him as if it were contagious.

Chanyeol stirred from his sleep and once he was fully awake, he saw an embarrassed, fumbling Baekhyun and the same overexcited girl from yesterday.

“W-what’s happening?” Chanyeol grumbled out in his deep morning voice, sending Momo into another round of fangirling.

“You guys are like those perfect couples that I always ship in mangas!” She squealed, not noticing the incredulous looks she was getting from the both of them. “The way you two were wrapped around each other! Aww! It was sooo cute!”

Now, it was time for Chanyeol to redden as he tried to settle down his bed hair he certainly knew he was sporting. He turned to face Baekhyun who suddenly had a lot of interest in the plain cream duvet covering them.

“Look...” Chanyeol rubbed his face to get into his serious mode.

“Momo,” Momo supplied so that she could hear her name being addressed in that goddamn sexy voice.

Chanyeol began, “Right, Momo listen, I think you have misunderstood our relationship.”

“Oh, you guys aren’t dating?” Momo asked with confusion before her she smiled widely, Baekhyun was sure he could feel goosebumps all over his bare arms. “I am so stupid,” She smacked her forehead loudly which had Baekhyun wincing for her, “You guys must surely be a married couple! I am sorry to have offended you. Of course, only married couples could be as perfect as you two,”

“Actually-“ Baekhyun started to retort but was elbowed subtly by Chanyeol. Just as Baekhyun was about to curse at him, Chanyeol smiled brightly as he casually draped his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders and said, “Yes, you got that right, Momo.”

“What?” Baekhyun shouted loudly making Momo jump from the sudden shout.

“I can understand you wanting to keep the marriage a secret as it is still a bit of a taboo subject,” Momo sympathised, she sent a comforting gaze to a hyperventilating Baekhyun before she started to roll the trolley full of plates towards the door. “But please remember that you have your number one supporter right here. May you always be this cute and in love forever and ever! Hwaiting~”

And with that, the young blonde ball of energy exited the room before the two young men could say anything more.

"What the hell were you thinking?” Baekhyun exploded, pushing Chanyeol away who was still leaning against him. “I thought you were clearing up the misunderstanding not making it worse, you dumbass!”

“I was planning to,” Chanyeol nursed the hit that he had gotten from Baekhyun earlier. He had to go through all of this trouble just to convince that girl they were ‘married’. “But then I remembered our plan, you never know who that girl might talk to in the future,”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes at the lame excuse, “That shitty plan? Should I remind you Mr. Clever-pants that we are _not yet_ married?”

“We will sort that out today, no hurry, baby,” Chanyeol teased as he quickly got off the bed before he could become Baekhyun’s punching bag again, the smaller male certainly knew how and where to hit. “I know that you’re dying to be Mr. Park, but I want to have some breakfast before we go to the nearest courthouse.”

“You wish!” Baekhyun scowled. “And it will be you becoming Mr. Byun!”

Chanyeol chuckled, “Oh, please...Even that receptionist can tell that you are the bottom one in this relationship,” He put on the slippers and went to the suitcases to find some new clothes to wear.

Pouting, Baekhyun hugged his pillow, “So? That has got nothing to do with surnames!”

Somehow surprised that the cute display before him wasn’t making him sick, Chanyeol shook his head in mirth as he closed the suitcase lid to clear everything up for the Byun heir before he could get upset again.

“Jokes aside Byun, you will have to take my name because my family is already part of this Syndicate,” He walked past the bed, watching Baekhyun nodding in understanding with the annoyingly cute pout still on. “And by the looks of it, they will only let me join independently and not you. In case you don’t remember this is the very same organisation that was out to kill you for the past two to three months.”

Baekhyun huffed, as he could see sense in Chanyeol’s point but he shall refuse to ever admit that.

Chanyeol, however, could see the Byun heir relaxing and smirked as he made his way to the bathroom. Just before he closed the door, he stated, “Also, we need to work on the physical interaction. We are meant to be lovers on the run, putting my arm around your shoulders isn’t going to cut it.”

“I am not letting your hands anywhere near me, Park. No fucking way!” Baekhyun suddenly jumped out of the bed in anger, throwing the duvet on the floor. “Who knows where they have been...”

“Oi! Listen here you little shit-” Chanyeol started to object loudly before realising that this attitude would get them nowhere. They had an organization to infiltrate, it was about time they stopped acting like teenagers. “People would die to be in your place. Anyways, it’s not like I haven’t touched you in the past and may I say, I did a lot more than just touching with my hands,” Chanyeol boasted with a wide grin.

“You said that you wouldn’t ever bring that up!” Baekhyun screamed as he turned red from shame. That night had been a drunken mistake; Baekhyun cursed at his 18-year-old self for being so stupid.

“I had to, Byun. It seems like the history shall be repeating itself,” Chanyeol snickered before finally shutting the bathroom door.

“NO FUCKING WAY AM I LETTING YOU DO THAT, PARK!” Baekhyun roared at the closed bathroom door. “I FUCKING HATE YOU!”

Pillows and duvets were thrown yet again on the floor before Baekhyun calmed down.

_It’s only been a few hours since I agreed to this and I am already regretting it,_ Baekhyun groaned. _Taehyung-ah, the shit hyung has to do for you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter.   
Please don't forget to comment and give kudos!
> 
> Twitter: @baekingyeolk (let's be friends ^_^ )

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter - @baekingyeolk


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